Cherish
by NoniRex
Summary: After being left for dead by a tyrannical leader, Chris finds herself in the company of two brothers. The three become a sort of dysfunctional family in the midst of an apocalypse. This story occurs before the brothers meet up with the rest of the group (they will all eventually make an appearance).
1. Chapter 1-Hangin Around Till the End

Before everything went to hell, life was bleak. Same nine to five job, five days a week. Same filthy apartment building, and same terrible neighbors. Just a few weeks ago, if you had told me I would be in the situation I was in the day I met the guys, I would have laughed and jumped for joy. I think a lot of people day dream about themselves in these particular situations. They want to be the victim- to have their knight in shining armor come save them at the last moment. I guess you could say that was what had happened to me was one of those moments, but the guys weren't exactly knights. There was nothing shining about them.

The moment I was in said predicament, I had mixed feelings. Maybe it was the blood quickly rushing to my head, but there was a part of me that was ecstatic about going out in an original way. When I use the term "original", I'm still talking about the normality we faced before the end. Not a heart attack, not a stroke or some freak accident. Murdered by an angry post-apocalyptic dictator…of sorts. The murder weapon was the hundred or so reanimated dead people roaming about the forest.

I had spent Lord knows how long flailing about in an attempt to grab at my feet before I was eaten alive. My ankles were rubbed raw and beginning to bleed. There was no way the dead weren't going to be able to locate me, even if I was silent. They'd be able to smell the blood.

At first, I had hoped that Dexter (the post-apocalyptic dictator I'd mentioned) had been careless when he strung me upside down. He'd done the exact opposite. The only way I was getting down was with someone else's assistance. The likelihood of anyone in that forest with a functioning brain was little to none. And, last time I checked, the dead were more interested in taking advantage of those caught in a tight spot.

To add insult to injury, Dexter left my bag in front of my face. The bag was neatly packed, with my re-curve bow carefully placed on top.

"If you do manage to get out alive, I'll leave this here for you, just in case. I'll be back in a day or so to collect your things if you don't make it out. Wouldn't want to say I never gave you a chance."

He stroked my face with his hand, and then slapped me.

"Good luck," he laughed.

Eventually, I'd given up on separating my feet and dropped my arms next to my ears. I was live bait dangling in a tree. Pathetic. I was awaiting my final moments, praying that the blood in my brain would make me pass out before the mobile rotting flesh located me.

"It's okay," I said to myself. "Just fall asleep. It will be less painful."

I thought of everything I was leaving behind, which, after the apocalypse, wasn't a whole lot. I thought of my parents, my siblings, my dog, and home. They seemed more like a dream that I'd had the night before than a far off memory. I thought of the dorm room I ran from when my roommate turned. I shot her in the head. At the time, I figured they'd put me in jail for murdering someone, and she had attacked me because she was ill. I knew better now, but I was still happy I got the hell out of there.

I was right where you'd expect to be at the end of the world. Everything went to hell, and life was still bleak.

During my reminiscing session, I heard one of them approaching. Off in the distance, I saw its shadow slowly roaming towards me.

"Now try falling asleep."

I panicked. Now that I saw death coming over the hill, a couple more tries couldn't hurt. My arms and legs worked together to swing the rest of my body back and forth. The closer the groaning got, the harder I worked. My fingertips grazed a tree limb above. By this time my hard work hadn't gone unnoticed. The dead man was approaching quickly. I began to vocalize my fear as it got closer.

Finally, I grabbed hold of a branch. I hugged it and didn't let go. Just in time. I felt the undead man's fingertips along my backside. Just out of his reach. Wonderful. Although I knew no one would hear, I screamed for help.

I looked around, and decided my best bet would be to reach for my feet so I could untie myself. I reached as far as I could while pulling my feet towards myself. I got ahold of the end of one of the knots and pulled with everything I had left. My left foot was free.

That's when the branch began to give. To me, it was slow motion. Anyone looking on would have seen it happen within seconds. My hand swung back to the branch as it broke away from the rest of the tree. I held tight all the way down. The branch swung into the corpse's decaying cranium and knocked him over. Lucky shot. I dropped the branch below me and my body swung back and forth from the remaining leg attached to the tree.

The forest around me was still and silent. My heart pounded in my ears, and my breaths were short and quick. The leg that remained tied to the tree felt like it was going to be ripped away from my torso.

"Oh my God," I panted. "Oh. My -"

The leaves on the ground began to shuffle once again. The growling abomination looked up at me. There was a dent in the side of its head where the tree branch had struck.

The dead man pulled his arms in and pushed himself up.

I reached for the branch below me, which was now just out of my reach.

I screamed. It was only a foot away. This was it. I saw myself hanging in this tree as one of them, until my ankle decayed enough to set me free. For the final days of my already short existence, I would be crawling around the forest searching for a meal until I finally starved to death.

My arms covered my face, like it would lessen the pain. Child's logic.

Then, a loud click followed an even louder 'THUNK'. Something struck the tree. Whatever had struck the tree freed me from the rope wrapped around my ankle.

I went face-first into the ground, and my world turned black.


	2. Chapter 2-The Guys

Looking back, I was never sure if I woke up that morning, or the next. I would have asked the guys, but I would probably never receive a straight answer.

Regardless, when I did wake up, I was left in the dark.

"Am I dead?" I thought to myself.

Then I felt the pounding in my head.

"Definitely not dead. Ow."

I sat up and my entire body ached. I was lying in a small bed on top of a sleeping bag far too large for the bed. I swept my legs across and planted them onto the floor. My feet were no longer booted. Instead, I stared down at my dirty socks. That's when I'd noticed a feint light coming in from the small opening to the room I was in. I squatted, started cautiously towards the opening, and pulled it back. That small room was a tent. There was a similar tent right next to the one I was peeking from. The light came from a campfire about ten feet away.

I looked around the side of the tent, and around the fire- no one was there.

"Did they help me and get themselves eaten?"

The sun was beginning to rise over the trees in the surrounding forest, lighting up the small campsite. I walked around the fire. Two logs acted as makeshift sitting arrangements around it. Whoever had been there, kept the fire roaring, warming the entire area.

On the other side of the camp was an old truck.

"Ancient piece of crap. They're probably stranded like Dexter and his group."

I glanced inside of the truck. I saw a shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and a dirty pair of jeans that had been carelessly thrown onto the seat. I opened the driver's side door and found a knife sticking out from under the seat.

"Hope he or she doesn't mind if I borrow this."

Around the other side of the truck was a motorcycle. The tank of the bike had the SS insignia on it.

"Saved by the Nazi Protection Squadron. Fantastic."

I thought about rummaging through the saddle bags of the bike, but thought twice, just in case the owner did return. I'd already borrowed a knife. That was enough for now.

I strode back towards the fire, and looked over the camp.

"Where are these people?"

I found myself back inside the tent I started in. The arriving sunlight allowed me to get a better look at what was inside. The bed was a small collapsible cot. In the corner was a pile of dirty clothes and next to them was a duffle bag. When I turned to my right, I saw a familiar sight- my bow! Underneath was my bag. Just like it had been in the forest when I was a dangling meal. Right next to the bag were my boots, which I'd put on immediately.

I set the knife down next to me while I went through my belongings. A few fresh pieces of clothing (I'd washed before Dexter went ape shit), my .380 automatic pistol, a few extra arrows, a couple boxes of ammunition, and my cell phone. Yes, I realized the world had ended, and YES I realized that there was no practical use for it. The phone held pictures; memories of my past life.

Eventually, I'd come across my small collection of books. I'd already read them once over, but it was better than nothing. The sight made me smile.

"DARYL!"

I looked behind me. In the opening of the tent, I saw a tall, intimidating man screaming another man's name. He was wearing a filthy wife-beater and jeans that he was still attempting to button. His dirty blonde hair was unkempt just like the rest of him. He looked as if he hadn't had a goodnight's sleep in years.

"DARYL? DARYL! Get your sorry ass outta bed and put out this goddamn fire!"

His loud, raspy voice echoed through the trees. He stormed back into the tent.

"I'd hate to be Daryl...whoever he is," I whispered.

The tall, angry man emerged out of the tent with a smaller man in tow.

"May as well keep it burning now- we gotta eat. Go find something," he said.

"Why do I have to go? I went last night," said the man apparently known as Daryl.

"Because if you don't, I'll kick your teeth in. Get going."

He smacked Daryl in the back of the head.

"And don't forget, we got one more mouth 'ta feed."

They both looked toward the tent I was in. I was frozen solid, hoping they didn't see me looking. They looked at each other and craned their heads to the side. They saw something, and if it wasn't me, it must have been something spectacular.

"You can come out. We don't bite!" said the taller man.

Daryl turned and gave him a look.

I was terrified to go out. I didn't know who these men were. I reached for the knife and slid it in my boot.

I slowly stood up, stepped out of the tent, and stumbled towards them. I stopped on the other side of the fire, and awkwardly placed my hands in front of my body.

"Weeelll, well, well. 'Bout time you got up, Sleeping Beauty. Almost thought we'd have to go in there and put ya down," said the taller one.

My gaze found the forest floor and it stayed there.

I managed to let out a small "thank you."

"What?"

"Thank you," I said louder.

He laughed.

"Don't thank me, thank Daryl here. He's the one that stopped for ya."

I nodded to towards Daryl. He looked up from eyes that looked like they were permanently squinting. He had stringy dark brown hair, and everything about him looked dirty and greasy. Except for his facial hair which, oddly enough, looked neatly kept.

"Don't mention it," he said finally.

I stared back at the ground. I wasn't sure where to go from there.

Finally, one of them broke the ice.

"You can sit down, you know," said the taller man.

I nodded and sat down on the opposite side of the fire. He came and sat down next to me. It's good to know that while everything else died, awkward moments are still alive and well.

Daryl stayed on the other side of the fire, still standing.

"What's your name?" asked the taller one.

I hesitated for a moment, but then came to the conclusion that if I was going to survive, I was going to have to make nice with these men for the time being.

"I'm Chris."

He laughed out loud.

"Chris? That's a man's name! You some kinda dyke?"

I couldn't believe what he'd just asked me. Of course, they both thought it was hilarious.

"Uh..no. It's short for Christa."

He nodded and smiled at me.

"I'm Merle."

There was something about him that made me uneasy. Like an animal that you weren't sure whether it would lick your face or bite it off.

"Mind me askin' what you did to piss off whoever left you for dead?" asked Daryl.

I sighed.

"Well, there's this guy. Dexter. An-"

Merle interrupted, "Let me guess, you wouldn't get him off, so he left ya there."

I stared at him for a moment.

"No."

I shook my head and stared back at the ground.

"Dexter is the questionable leader of a group I used to be a part of. He wanted to go after a neighboring group. Said they were a threat. Said they were gonna come after us in our sleep. Got everyone paranoid. He sent me to scope out their camp one day, to find the best way to take their camp. How to enter, the type of weapons they had, that sort of thing. I looked over the quarry, into their camp. I didn't see a threat. I saw kids running around. I saw people swimming and fishing in a nearby lake. They weren't a threat. They were happy. I couldn't take that away from them and their children. Later on, I find out Dexter knew they weren't a threat. He wanted their supplies and their land. He wanted to take what he knew he had no right to."

They were silent.

"Dexter sounds like a piece of shit," said Daryl.

"He is. He left to go take their camp after he left me."

"How did you end up with a douche like that?" asked Merle.

"I was on the road. I left my dorm after a mishap. I was looking to go to my aunt's house just outside of Atlanta. My car eventually broke down and Dexter just happened to be there."

Merle laughed.

"You wonna them stuck up, know it all college students?"

I looked at him, perplexed.

"Sure! Your mama and papa payin' all your bills, makin' sure their baby girl gets a decent education."

"Not exactly," I said. "Mom and dad never supported my decision to go to college. They were uh...preppers. They knew something like this was going to go down. They said it was a waste of time."

"Must suck to know they were right." Daryl said.

I looked down, disappointed.

"Yes and no. Not like all of that money means anything now, but I'm never getting those years back."

There was a small break in the conversation.

"Well Daryl, why don't you go out and catch us all something to eat."

"Still don't see why I gotta do all the work around here," he replied.

He picked up a crossbow from behind one of the logs and stomped into the woods.


	3. Chapter 3-Save me a Seat

When Daryl returned a couple hours later, he had a few squirrels strung around his shoulder. Merle and I were still sitting around the fire. He did most of the talking; I sat there with a worried look on my face and listened. He was a strange man, with even stranger things to say.

He immediately acknowledged Daryl when he walked into the camp.

"'Bout time you got back, I just about starved to death!"

Merle then turned to me.

"You ever had squirrel before?"

"I can't say I have."

"Well, don't be expecting anything fancy. We don't brew Starbucks coffee around here. And don't expect us to keep fixin' your meals and protectin' your ass!' said Daryl.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't offended.

"You think I've never had to be on my own? I know how to survive by myself."

"Yeah, looks like you were doing just fine dangling in that tree."

I stood up slowly.

"Not like I got up there by myself!"

Merle stood up in between us.

"Calm it down, little brother."

He then turned towards me.

"Look, I don't mind havin' ya here. It's kind of nice now that it's not a complete sausage fest. But I'm gonna get one thing clear: if you ever become a threat to either me or my brother, lady or not, I will not hesitate to take you out."

"Where did that come from? I'm half the size of both of you. I don't think I'll ever be considered a threat to either of you."

"Well, I assume you know how to use that bow and gun you have in there."

"Bet your ass I do."

We stared each other down for a moment, and then he smiled again.

"Good, let's eat."

I was having a hard time figuring him out.

Daryl set down his bow and the roped rodents.

"I gotta get these gutted and cleaned," he said. "It'll still be a bit before they're considered edible."

Daryl turned to me.

"You know how to gut anything?"

"I get the premise, but I've never had to do it myself."

He shook his head.

"Must be nice to have people doing dirty work for you your whole life. It ain't gonna be like that here. Ya gotta learn."

I scowled and started to rebuttal. The sight of Merle in my peripheral stopped me.

"Teach me."

Daryl stood up from the log and went to his truck.

"Merle! Where the hell's my knife?"

I kept my mouth shut.

"I didn't use it last," Merle replied.

He handed Daryl his own knife.

"Learn to keep track of your shit."

"I didn't lose it. I left it under the seat like I always do."

I looked up at Daryl, and changed the subject.

"Are we going to do this?"

"Yeah."

That evening, I had my first taste of squirrel fried in a pan over the fire. Tastes a little bit like chicken, as if it mattered. We didn't have a lot to pass around, but it was the best meal, no, the only meal I've had in days. Probably why it tasted so good.

Those next few days were filled with the same thing. Awkward tension, terrible jokes, and most of all, squirrel. Lots and lots of fried squirrel. I became more useful- Merle was teaching me how to be a better hunter. He didn't have a lot of patience, but he turned out to be a pretty good "teacher". I was able to catch dinner, prep it, and cook it. That way, he and Daryl could do other useful things around the campsite. Although, I have to admit, it was a bit degrading at times. The end of life as we know it, and I'm a woman still stuck in a kitchen. Merle said that was where I belonged, and thus begun the never ending cycle of sexist jokes. All at my expense, of course.

Around four days after I'd arrived at camp, I went back into the tent that had my things in it and grabbed my bow. I felt much better, so I figured I'd be okay to look around the area we were in- to see if I could find anything useful.

"Where you goin'?" asked Merle.

"I wanna check this place out."

"Don't get stuck in any trees," he laughed.

I rolled my eyes and started to walk the perimeter of the camp. Although I knew what was lurking around the forest, it looked inviting. I walked into the trees and walked a straight line. I made sure not to make any turns so I could find my way back easily.

About a half hour into my journey, I came across a very familiar sight. At the bottom of a hill I was standing on top of was a tree with a piece of rope dangling from one of the higher branches. At the bottom of the tree was one of the dead, only it was immobile. I assumed that was Daryl's work.

I walked up to the tree and felt the rope in between my fingers. I was there- at what could have very well been my gravesite. It was a strange place to come back to. Almost surreal. Daryl finding me here seemed like a strange coincidence. I was extremely grateful, but I couldn't help thinking of how and why. Out of all the dead people, of all of the places, of all the times…he happened to walk by at that moment. The world, fate, and coincidence freaked me out sometimes. I could never wrap my head around it.

I felt guilty for staying with them. I shouldn't have been their problem.

My thoughts were interrupted by the soft crunching of the leaves behind me. Someone was trying to sneak up on me. I crouched down like I was inspecting the other half of the rope on the ground. I had to think before they got too close. It could be Merle or Daryl, but I didn't want to take that chance.

I slowly reached down towards my boot and pulled out Daryl's knife. The crunching got too close for comfort. It was now or never. My body whipped around and I threw the knife in the direction of the crunching.

"GOD DAMN IT!"

There was Dexter with the end of Daryl's knife sticking out of his left thigh. He breathed heavily and glared into my eyes.

"You still alive? I was just coming by to pick up my new bow and gun. What a shame."

He pulled the knife out of his leg without so much as a whimper.

"Where's the rest of your men, Dexter? Did they figure out how full of shit you are? Let me guess, you attacked that camp. You killed those people and their children, and your men figured out that they weren't actually a threat. Didn't they?"

He held up the knife, ready to lunge at me.

"C'mon you son of a bitch!" I yelled.

I pulled an arrow out of the quiver on my back, snapped it to the string on my bow, and aimed. Almost unanimously, I took my shot and he threw the knife back. My arrow grazed his leg and the knife sliced my right arm.

I turned back towards the tree, and desperately tried to find the knife. Dexter pulled me back by my hair and threw me to the ground.

"You are not leaving these woods," he whispered.

Dexter wrapped his hands around my neck and held tight. My hands went to his face and started to claw. It didn't stop him. I felt around in the leaves behind me. What else? What else?! I came to my senses and remembered the quiver full of arrows on my back. I reached behind me for an arrow, pulled one out, and jammed it into the side of Dexter's neck.

He got off me and screamed. He pulled the arrow, and the blood began to flow out. He began to come at me again, but stopped. It was like he had an epiphany. He turned around towards the tree and found the knife.

Dexter came at me faster than ever before, and began to make a stabbing motion. I made an effort to get out of the way, and the knife landed in the already opened wound on my arm. I screamed. He punched me and knocked me to the ground. While down, he kicked me to make sure I stayed down, and pulled the knife from my arm.

"You know, I'm actually gonna miss you, Chris. I liked you. It's too bad we couldn't see eye to eye."

"You asked me to kill people for their supplies. That was their way of life; neither of us have any right to take it. You can kill me a hundred times over Dexter, but it's not going to hide the guilt or the shame you feel."

I could feel the blood moving in between my teeth.

"Then I guess I'll see you in Hell." he laughed.

"Save me a seat."

I pulled the last arrow out of my quiver and stabbed him in the temple. He dropped the knife, and I pushed the arrow in further. A few moments later, he stopped moving.

I'd killed the man that tried to kill me.


	4. Chapter 4-Running Back Home

I leaned back against a tree and stared at Dexter's lifeless body. He looked like a threat, even as a corpse.

"Jesus Christ!"

I looked up and saw Daryl peeking out from behind a tree. I wondered how much he'd seen, but he's still never told me.

I must have been a pathetic sight: covered in blood, tears and snot running down my face. But I was silent. I dropped the arrow in my hand.

"I- I..." I stammered.

"What happened? Was he a geek?"

I decided the truth would be better.

"NO! He wasn't a geek. He was alive…and I killed him."

Daryl lifted his crossbow and kept me in his sights.

"Why did you kill him?" He asked.

I kept quiet.

"You'd better start talkin'."

"I-I mean he-he was the one who tied me to the tree. That's Dexter! He snuck up on me and tried to attack me. I didn't have any other choice...I'm sorry."

I started to weep.

"Don't start that cryin' shit. And don't be sorry. It was either him or you."

"I-"

"Hush up. We gotta get back to camp before the geeks smell you."

He picked up my bow and scattered arrows.

"Anything else you'd be sorry to leave behind?" he asked.

I nodded. I awkwardly stumbled towards Dexter's body and picked up Daryl's knife. I kept my head down and handed it to Daryl handle first.

"What the hell?!"

I kept my head down, and he let out a heavy sigh.

"We'll talk about this later. We gotta go."

We got back to camp at what I believe was just after noon. Daryl was silent the whole way. He was very upset with me; I knew he'd let me have it later.

Merle was sitting on the other side of the truck, fiddling with his motorcycle. He stood and cocked his shotgun when he heard us coming through the trees. He pointed the barrel at the ground when he saw me.

"What the hell happened to you?"

I shook my head and went the tent I was occupying.

Merle turned his attention to his brother.

"What happened out there?"

"That son of a bitch Dexter came back for her."

I came back out of the tent with the first aid kit I kept in my bag. I sat down on one of the logs around the fire with my back turned to them.

Merle walked around and crouched down in front of me. He looked at my arm and the blood on the front of my shirt.

"He do this to ya?"

"Yeah."

He stood up and looked to Daryl.

"Let's go. We gotta finish this guy before he comes and finds her with us."

Daryl pointed down at me.

"She already finished it."

"What?"

"She was smart enough to put an arrow through his head. He ain't coming back."

Merle turned back towards me.

"You ain't such a useless piece of shit after all."

I kept my head down.

"You feelin' guilty?"

I didn't answer.

"Don't. If you didn't kill him, he could have found Daryl and I."

"There's two of you and one of him. If I could have taken him down by myself, you certainly could have managed."

He sat next to me, and grabbed the arm Dexter had gashed open.

"Let go! Merle, please let go!"

My eyes started to tear up again.

"Don't you cry girl! Don't start! You'd better clear that shit from your conscience. That pussy could have come after us in our sleep. He could have got the rest of his group to come after us."

I put my knees on the ground. The more pain I showed on my face, the harder he squeezed.

"Merle!" I screamed.

He let go, and I put my forehead to the dirt.

"Get up," he said. "Stop mopin', and get cleaned up before you lose that arm."

He went back to tinkering with his motorcycle, and Daryl came to my side. He held his hand down to help me up.

"No. I'll help myself up."

"Okay."

He withdrew his hand and sat down on the other end of the log. I looked towards him; he just stared. He watched and waited for me to move. Most likely, waiting for me to fall over.

I turned towards the log and used it to push myself up so I could sit again. Once I reached my goal, I leaned down to open the first aid kit. I grabbed the bottle of alcohol at the top, and unscrewed the cap. I held my right arm level with the ground and started to pour the contents of the bottle on to my wound. The stinging sensation that covered the area was almost overwhelming. I gasped from the pain, and clenched my jaw. I cleaned it up using gauze from the box of medical supplies.

The last thing I needed to do was bind. My attempts must have looked pretty sad from where Daryl was sitting; he got up from his seat and asked me to stay still so he could wrap it.

"I'm fine, Daryl. Thank you. I can do it."

"Bullshit."

I pulled my arm away.

"Fine, bitch! I hope that shit gets infected and we gotta cut it off!"

He stormed off into the woods.

I know he didn't mean it.

Eventually, I was able to dress my own wound. After much trial and error, but I got it done.

I went into my tent, put on a fresh set of clothes, and had a nap. I dreamed of the camp that Dexter had gone to overthrow. Those people and their children. The bullet wounds to their heads. I saw some of them with their insides protruding from their bellies, and the dead having a feast. The dead at the camp were their friends. The friends that Dexter's men didn't have enough courtesy to shoot in the head after they were done with them. Lastly, I saw Dexter's corpse coming for me. Creeping closer, and closer. I had no gun. I had no bow. I had no arrows. He got closer and closer until he got me. I felt his hands on me.

I woke up screaming.

"God damn, woman!"

I saw Merle standing next to the bed.

"I was just tryin' to wake you up, you don't gotta scream at me."

I stared at him like he was on fire. That dream got to me.

"I had a bad dream...I didn't mean to freak you out."

"Poor baby havin' a nightmare," he laughed. "Should I sleep in your bed, I mean, MY bed with you next time?"

I jumped up out of bed, grabbed my bow and bag, and stormed out of the tent.

"What? You leavin'? I thought we was gettin' along just fine. Just when I was gettin' to like you."

"I'm not leaving forever. I gotta go do something. Something important. I'll be back."

Just as I was walking out, Daryl came back with his hunt for the day.

"Where the hell you goin' off to?"

"There's something I gotta do. I'll be back. If not tonight, I'll be back tomorrow."

Daryl looked up at Merle, looking for answers. Merle shrugged and sat down to poke at the fire.

"I ain't watchin' your ass."

"I didn't ask."

I walked into the woods and didn't look back. Behind me, I caught the beginning of their conversation.

"That girl is gonna to get herself killed," said Daryl.

"Let her go. If she doesn't come back, she doesn't come back. Not our problem. Start guttin'."

There I was again. At the top of that hill, looking down at the tree with the rope dangling. I had a purpose there, other than staring at that tree. It was Dexter. I needed closure. Merle was right, I couldn't live forever thinking about the blood I'd spilled. I needed a clear conscience.

I walked up to Dexter's corpse and examined it. It had started to turn color. His eyes were still wide open from earlier that day.

That was the same lifeless stare I'd seen in my dream. It had to go away. I searched around the area for a bit. I found a large rock, and dropped it on his head. Closure. I don't know if it was the right way, but I definitely felt better.

Afterwards, I decided to go back to Dexter's camp. I wanted Merle off my back about Daryl giving me his tent. I needed to go back for my own things.

I figured since the group knew about Dexter and how he'd lied to them, they would allow me back in for my things. But I was still going to be cautious, just in case.

I snuck up behind the camp and peeked out from behind a tree. The camp was empty. Something wasn't right. I got up and walked towards the middle of the camp. No one was there.

"Hello?"

Silence.

"Hello? Anyone here? It's Chris! I'm back...," my voice trailed off.

Everyone left.

I guess it was good a time as any to grab the rest of my things. I rolled up my tent, my sleeping bag, and the rest of my camping gear. When I was finished, I took one last look around before leaving. I'd noticed their campfire. It was smoldering, but there were plates and flatware sitting on the chairs. The area where the vehicles were kept, the dirt was disturbed with smeared tire tracks. They'd left in a hurry. What happened here?

Suddenly, a shuffling noise came from what used to be Dexter's tent. I crept back and zipped the tent open as fast as I could. Inside, I saw Myra. Dexter's kid. She was covered in her own blood. Her wrists were slit.

"Myra...what the hell?"

She smiled.

"It's better, isn't it? To go this way? I don't want to be one of them, Chris, I don't. This is the only way."

"Why didn't you say anything when I called out! You could have come with me!"

"No...no,no. You're just delaying the inevitable."

"Where did everyone go?"

"They heard the dead coming- a whole herd of them! They took off and forgot me here."

"Did they attack that camp?"

She fell silent.

"Did they attack the camp?!"

"No. They left it alone. The others figured out my dad lied. They kicked him out of the group. But it's okay, you already put him out of his misery."

She smiled.

"How do you know?"

"I was there, Chris. I saw. I saw him come after you, and I saw you defend yourself."

"Myr, I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." My voice was barely a whisper.

"I don't blame you. It's okay. I'm just happy I'll never see him turn. I should be thanking you. He was kind of an asshole." Her smile widened more.

"Here, let me wrap your wrists, and you can come with me."

I started towards her.

"NO!"

She pointed her knife at me.

"I wanna go," she said. "Just let me stay here and bleed out."

"If you do that, you'll turn anyway."

Her eyes widened.

"You're right."

Her gaze slowly came to my hip. Her eyes were on my gun.

"Shoot me."

"No."

"Chris, please."

"I'm sorry, Myra. I can't do that."

She nodded.

"I understand," she nodded.

Then, faster than I could react, she stabbed the knife into her head, and collapsed forward.

I knew it would do no good, but I called her name and checked her over anyway. She was done for good. I stepped outside and threw up the liquids in my stomach.

Myra's suicide still plays in my head every day, but she was essential. She was my real closure. She forgave me for killing her father. That's all I needed to hear.

I buried her body in the middle of the camp, and left. She looked peaceful. I was sort of jealous.

That night, I set up camp in front of the tree. I stared up through the clearing in the trees and wondered what Merle and Daryl were doing. Probably drinking and daring each other to do stupid shit. Sounded about right.


	5. Chapter 5-H2O

I would like to say thank you to Scoobydoo0811 and Brazen Hussy!

Scooby- I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I really appreciate the feedback. I didn't want Chris to be 100% badass coming out of the box. I wanted a character I could develop. I wanted a character who knew sort of what she was doing, but could learn from her mistakes and the brothers.

Hussy- Since my first look at Merle in season one was a little less than flattering (high on whatever drugs he had…I think Rick mentioned what it was, but I can't recall at the moment). When we get to Woodbury, we see a more humane side to him…yeah, he's still kind of a jackass, but that's the Merle I wanted to use. Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it!

Also, thank you very much to those of you favoriting and following =)

* * *

The morning after, I woke up early so I could head back up to camp. The closer I got, the more potent the smell was from the fire that the Dixons surely fought over after they woke up. It was routine for them. On my way, I hunted down a couple of rabbits to bring back. I arrived back just in time for the sun to peek into the camp, lighting up the site in little bits.

Just as I sat down at the fire, Merle emerged from his tent.

"Weeeeeelll, I thought for sure you'd be geek food."

He looked back at his tent.

"I moved back in. Hope ya don't mind."

I held up my own tent.

"Not at all, it was part of my agenda."

I held up one of the rabbits by its back legs.

"I brought breakfast with me."

"Good, now I don't have ta listen to Darlina bitch and belly ache about going out," he chuckled.

"You two assholes talking about me?"

Daryl emerged from his tent, still buttoning his shirt and rubbing his tired eyes.

"Sort of," I said. "Saved you a trip."

I held up the rabbit for him to see.

"There goes my morning," he said.

"I'll gladly let you help me gut them."

"Thought you'd never ask. Let me go get MY knife."

Guilt tripped. Just when I thought he'd forgotten. I think he was hesitant about bringing it up the subject in front of his elder brother. Thank God…or whoever was watching over us at that point.

Merle looked suspicious after our exchange of words, but shrugged it off and went back into his tent.

I sat down with the log between my legs and placed one of the dead rabbits in front of me belly up. Daryl approached with two knives and handed me one.

"I expect to get that back," he said.

"I'm sorry, really. I didn't know who you people were! At least I got it back. I guess I'm too used to scavenging."

He laughed as he stabbed through the fur of his rabbit.

"I mighta done the same thing. Except, if I was you and I saw Merle, I woulda ran outta that tent swingin'."

"Yeah," I laughed. "I can see you doing that sort of thing."

He stabbed the knife into the log next to the rabbit.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Daryl wasn't as large as Merle, but he was just as intimidating.

"I-uh. I mean…"

"I'm just fuckin' with ya," he laughed.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Very God damn funny."

I had the urge to throw bunny guts at him.

I cut into my rabbit and got to work. It was a little easier than gutting a squirrel; the insides were a bit larger. But, I still struggled.

"Ugh. I hate gutting these tiny animals."

"Get used to it," said Daryl. "We ain't gonna find anything much bigger. Not 'round here anyway."

He was already half-way done with his rabbit. I paused for a moment, and watched him work. He gutted in a way that was almost graceful. I could tell he'd been doing this for a long time. He caught me watching.

"Take a damn picture why don't ya?"

"Daryl Dixon, you are graceful with the ladies, aren't you?"

He snorted and started working again.

"Nah, I was just admiring your work, that's all."

I got back to my rabbit. I carefully started to remove the bones.

"No, no, no. It's no wonder you're havin' trouble. You're doin' it wrong."

I put my bloody hands on my hips.

"_You_ taught me."

"You obviously weren't listening. Take off the fur first."

I took his advice. I removed the fur while he watched.

"Good, now take out its little bunny guts, then take out the bones."

I worked carefully, and removed the contents of the little creature.

"There, I did it!"

"You're still a little sloppy, but that'll work for now. Now we can fry these suckers up."

By we, he meant me. He hated cooking anything. I think that's why Merle made him do it all the time. After it was done, Daryl called for his brother and we all sat down to eat. I actually looked forward to our meals together. The brothers had the most ridiculous stories, and even though I knew some of them had to be bullshit, I listened like it was the most interesting thing ever.

"Why don't you tell her about the time you saw a chupacabra?" said Merle.

I laughed and had to cover my mouth so I wouldn't spit anything out.

"Why the hell you laughing?"

I shook my head, "Nothing. Not every day you meet someone who's seen the Mexican Bigfoot."

Merle and I wailed with laughter.

"Shut the hell up, both of ya. Sound like a couple of retarded hyenas. You wanna hear the story or not, bitch?"

I widened my eyes, cocked my head, and set down my plate next to me.

"Sure, Daryl. Go ahead," I said, trying to hold in my giggles.

"Well…there I was. Huntin' squirrels at the ass crack of dawn. I had almost tracked down the biggest rodent I'd ever seen, when I saw the chupacabra charging towards me."

I leaned in closer and held my knees.

"It had this nasty ass matted fur, big red eyes, and the biggest god damn fangs I'd ever seen in my life! It grabbed the squirrel I was after and ripped it to shreds. After it was done with that, it came for me. Huffin' and puffin'; I could see its breath. I ran up a tree to avoid it. It couldn't climb up, so it got frustrated and started to leave. Before it left, it turned around and said, 'This isn't over. I'll get you Dixon.' And it ran off. Never saw it again. Scariest shit I'd seen before the dead came back."

"Daryl…," I said in the most serious voice I could manage. "Daryl…What were you on?"

Merle choked on his breakfast and laughed out loud as soon as he could.

"It's not funny assholes! I saw it!"

"Yeah, you saw it," said Merle. "When he came back from that trip, he had a handful of mushrooms and was running through the woods ass naked!"

I lost it again. My side hurt from laughing so hard.

"Screw you douche bags. You suck."

Daryl threw down his plate and went inside his tent.

After we were done laughing, I cleaned up, and went to look for some water to boil for dishes. I stepped up on the back of Daryl's truck and looked in. There was one five gallon jug…half empty.

"Uhh…Merle? C'mere a sec."

"Okay, but make this quick, Daryl could come out of his tent any second and I don't want him to walk in on us."

"What? Ew, shut up, no!"

"Can't blame me for tryin'"

I glared up at him.

"Seriously."

"Okay, seriously, what's wrong?"

I held up the jug.

"Is this the rest of the water?"

He wiped the shit-eating grin off of his face, and looked into the bed of the truck. He climbed inside and started to frantically push the jugs around.

"Shit," he said.

I put down the jug.

"Well, you guys are going to have to live with dirty dishes for now."

Merle called for Daryl.

"What the hell do you want?" He yelled from the tent.

"Pull the broomstick outta yer ass and get out here! We got problems!"

He bolted out of the tent with his crossbow drawn and ready for a fight.

"Not that kinda problem, jackass," I said.

The guys were starting to rub off on me.

"_There goes my college education", _I thought.

"Then what happened?"

"We're almost outta water."

Daryl looked into the jug I had set on the ground.

"Shit. What now?"

"We have to go look for more," I said.

"Well, no shit," said Daryl. "Where do we look?"

We were quiet and thought amongst ourselves.

"What about the quarry? The one Dexter was gonna take? There's a huge lake there." I said.

The brothers looked at each other.

"Weren't you the one preaching about not taking things from others?" asked Merle.

"No, I mean, they have plenty of it there. Maybe they'll let us fill up and leave?"

Daryl nodded and twisted his face.

"Could work. How do we get in?"

"Hold it!" said Merle. "You tryin' to get me and my baby brother killed? We can't just go in there, take what we need, ''Kay see ya later!' I can guarantee, it won't work that way."

"What if it does? We won't know till we try. I don't think we have many other options. We obviously can't go into Atlanta."

"She's got a point, Merle. We could scout this place out, and see what they got goin' for them. Then we could go in at night or somethin'."

Merle nodded.

"Okay, you two can go. I'll stay here and watch the camp."

I felt a weird combination of defeat and success.


	6. Chapter 6-To the Quarry

That evening, the three of us sat around the campfire and watched its flames dance. Daryl sharpened sticks to use for arrows, Merle sat with a bottle of whiskey in his hand while he stared into the fire, and I read a book. The forest was alive with chirping crickets and frogs croaking. We all had the same thing on our minds: tomorrow morning. All three of us had different reasons to worry, but we also knew it had to be done.

The book I was reading was not internalizing. I was reading it, but it had no meaning. All I could think of was being spotted from over the quarry and one of their people shooting. I imagined what would happen if we went, and I came back without Daryl. Merle would kill me.

I set my book down on my stomach and put my head back against the log I was leaning against. The nice thing about living in the woods was the stars. Staring up at the night sky made me feel insignificant. I had always wondered if there was some far away planet living peacefully like we used to. I imagined the brothers building some type of redneck spaceship to get us off of this planet. The thought of it made me smile.

"What are you smilin' about?"

I pulled my head back up. Merle was staring at me with the whiskey bottle still in hand.

"Huh?"

"Why you smilin'?

"I guess I didn't realize I was."

I stared back into the fire and sighed.

"I could always go by myself," said Daryl, still looking at his wooden arrows.

I shook my head, "That's a really bad idea. We don't know what's out there."

"I got a pretty good idea what's out there," Merle laughed.

"You know what I mean."

Daryl stood up and set down his work so he could admire it for a moment.

"That's it for me," he said. "I'm going to bed."

"Pansy."

Daryl turned and glared at his older brother before ducking into his tent.

I turned my attention back to the fire.

"Why don't you come sit closer?" said Merle.

He leaned forward on his seat. I could smell the booze on his breath from where I was sitting.

"I'm fine over here."

"Then I'm comin' over there."

He almost fell over into the fire while stumbling over to the log I was sitting against.

"Merle, I think you've had enough for tonight."

"I'm a grown ass man. I know when I've had enough."

He sat down too fast on the ground next to me, and put his arm around my shoulders.

"Can I ask you somethin'?"

I was so uncomfortable with this.

"Sure?"

"You got a thing for my little brother?"

"No, Merle. I don't."

He nodded.

"You sure?"

I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and index finger.

"Positive, Merle."

He held up his bottle, offering me some of his drink.

"No, thank you."

"S'funny. You're always around him."

"I think you're thinking about this too hard. There are two of you in the camp. Not like there's anyone else to spend time with."

"You could spend more time with me," he said as he took another swig from the bottle.

I shook my head and picked up his arm from around me so I could get up. He grabbed hold and pulled me back down.

"Don't leave yet."

"What do you want?"

"I jus' wan' some good company."

"The company you're looking for, I'm not willing to give. I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Merle."

I stood up, and he pulled me down again.

"It's the end of the fucking world, and you're playing hard to get."

I laughed. He was pouting like a big drunken child.

"No, you're just drunk."

I pushed his face out of mine, got up, and walked away. Before I walked into my tent, I turned around.

"One day, I may give you a chance. Maybe."

"Works, for now."

He stood, and threw his bottle into the fire. Some of the broken pieces fell into the dirt.

"Chris?" he said.

"Yes?"

"Don't fuck my brother."

"Goodnight, Merle," I sighed.

* * *

The next morning, Daryl and I packed the truck with a few supplies we might need in case we didn't make it back right away. I tossed my bow and a few extra arrows in the backseat next to Daryl's crossbow.

I was hoping that Merle was too embarrassed about his behavior the night before to speak to me. I was definitely still embarrassed. However, he had different things in mind. He helped me pack the truck, and helped me gather my things. He even opened the door to Daryl's truck for me.

"Buckle up."

I gave him a perplexed look and shut the truck door. I watched him walk around the front of the truck and talk to his brother. Daryl opened the driver's side door and sat down. He set a flare down on the dashboard that I assume that it came from Merle. Daryl struggled to start the truck. After about a minute and a half of listening to it whine and groan, it gave in and we were on our way.

We didn't say anything to each other till we were about to turn onto the main road.

"You didn't sleep with my brother, did you?"

I put my head on the dashboard.

"Nooooo! What is it with you two?"

He laughed, "So he tried?"

A sickly look swept across my face. I nodded.

"Then why is he still being nice to you?"

"I told him I might give him a chance."

He snickered.

"He's not gonna leave you alone now."

"Then I'll be sure not to feed the fire."

"First good idea you've had all week."

Daryl started to slow the truck down

"This should be good. We'll walk the rest of the way."

We got out and grabbed the things we would need right away. Our bows, a small canteen filled with the last of our water, and a pair of binoculars.

The two of us walked for about twenty minutes before we were wondering when we'd ever arrive. I think it seemed long because there were hardly any geeks around. Daryl was bored.

"I've been meaning to ask," I said. "How did you guys end up out here?"

"Same as ev'ry one else, I suppose. Headin' to Atlanta; found out it went to shit. Merle wanted to stay there and wait till the city calmed down."

"As much as I hate to say it-"

"I know," he interrupted.

He looked disappointed. Like he and Merle had had this argument many times. Apparently, he kept losing.

"Are you sure it was this way?"

"Yes," I said. "I think that's the last hill."

It was indeed the last hill. We slowly crept over the hill, and slid down to the edge of some rocks that were looking over the lake. Daryl took out the binoculars and scoped the area.

"I see an RV with a lookout on top. At least fifteen people. Maybe more. They got kids with 'em. Looks like there's a couple other ways to get in besides the road."

I took mental notes of what he was relaying to me.

"We've got to be careful around a camp full of kids," I whispered.

He nodded and went back to staring into the lenses. His attention was mainly focused on the RV.

"They got a few rifles. I wonder what else they got."

"What now?" I whispered.

"We got what we need for now," he whispered back. "We gotta come back later."

We got up and walked back over the hill.

"You have any ideas about how to get in without being noticed? No doubt they'll have their lookout on top of that RV at night."

"More than likely, but I did see a few other trails comin' in from the trees."

"Yeah, but even if we come in one of those ways woul-"

"Shh!"

Daryl looked off into the distance beside me and put his hand up. There was a geek roaming our way.

"Just one. 'sall right."

He lifted the crossbow and took it out with a shot right between the eyes. He walked over to pull the arrow out. While he retrieved his weapon, I turned to my left and saw two more walking towards us. I lifted my bow and took one of them out. Daryl went up to the other and stabbed it through its rotting skull. While he retrieved his knife, I retrieved my arrow. I reached down and stepped on the head of the geek. Daryl grabbed my sleeve.

"Leave it, we gotta go!"

"Why?"

He pointed. Just over the horizon was a horde heading straight for us.

"Run."

I started before he could say anything. I'd never ran so hard or for so long in my life. The twenty minutes we walked before now took ten. We stopped now and then to catch our breath, but neither of us turned to take any of them out. There were too many. We got back to the road and I tripped onto the pavement from the ditch. Daryl stopped to help.

"Don't! Go start your truck and I'll hold them off."

He ran to the truck and jumped in. Meanwhile, I helped myself up off of the road and pulled out my gun. I picked off a few at a time, but I was running low on bullets. I pulled out an empty magazine and replaced it with one that was half full.

"Daryl! Get that piece of shit started!"

"I'm tryin'!"

I could hear the truck moan and whine. I could hear Daryl's foot stomping on the gas as he frantically attempted start it up. I needed to conserve the bullets I had, so I went back to picking off the herd with my bow. My arrows were starting to run low as well.

"DARYL!"

He didn't respond this time. I could tell he was scared, and that was enough to scare me. Neither of the Dixons were ever scared.

It finally started, as if it understood the situation.

"Let's go!" Daryl yelled.

I ran to the truck and vaulted over the tailgate while it was in motion. A few walkers clung to the back, but let go as we picked up speed. As we flew down the road, more emerged from the trees, trying desperately to catch up with the truck. Where were they all coming from?

We traveled a couple miles down the road. It seemed like they were coming from every direction. They were finally backing off down the road behind us. All of a sudden, the truck came to a fast halt. I fell back and hit my head on the back window, causing the glass to make a spider web pattern.

"What the hell, Daryl?!"

I rubbed the back of my head and looked through the front windshield. At first, I just hoped it was my aching head playing tricks on me, but that would have been lucky. There was a gap in the middle of a broken bridge.

"Shit!"

Daryl looked back at me.

"Hold on!"

He put the truck in reverse and stomped on the gas. I drew my gun again and picked off the walkers that weren't put down by the truck. We stopped again. I looked into the main cab of the truck, and saw Daryl throw the truck into drive.

"NO! DON'T!"

"HOLD ON!"

I held on for my life as the truck sped for the bridge.


	7. Chapter 7-Longing

Thank you to those of you showing some love to the story. I absolutely love hearing your feedback, and I love seeing favs and follows…what fanfic writer doesn't? :)

Norman Reedus Stole My Pants 0: I love that you said something about that. It was killing me NOT to make a DOH reference in chapter six, but I could not find an appropriate place for it. So, it's going in chapter seven. Btw…your pen name made me smile.

Brazen Hussy: Glad to see you back! Chris is most likely lying to herself, and Daryl. She's definitely feeding that fire. Merle is a wonderful character, whom I think deserves more fic love than he gets…rather than his little brother stealing it all hehe.

ScoobyDoo0811: Glad to see you back too! Under that hard exterior, he's got that soft tootsie roll center somewhere...it's hard to find, but I'm sure it's there .

* * *

My own screams made my ears ring. I was defying gravity as Daryl's truck caught air over the bridge gap. It was the slow motion moment in the forest all over again. My arms extended toward the top of the vehicle. My legs bent to brace for impact the moment my feet and the truck bed met. Underneath the flying truck, there was a filthy river full of walkers, dead and "alive"; waiting to greet us should our flight be cancelled. I was almost sure my body was going to levitate away from the bed and fall straight into the river.

The front of the truck suddenly began to bow down as gravity corrected itself. The front tires met the pavement, making the front bumper smash into the ground. Inside the main cab of the truck, Daryl's knuckles were white as his grip of the steering wheel tightened. When the back tires followed suit with the front, I landed back inside of the truck bed and slid back into the rear window. The truck screeched and slid, but Daryl kept control. We finally came to a screeching halt.

Everything was quiet for a few moments. My brain zoned out the sound of Daryl's truck clinking and clanking. I kept my back against the rear window and looked at the gap we just passed over. My ears still rang from the sounds that echoed out from my mouth. My lungs were overwhelmed by the screaming and heavy breathing. I got on all fours and crawled to the tailgate of the truck. I reached over and pulled on the handle to make a seat for myself.

Daryl finally emerged from the cabin, and slowly walked to the back of the truck. I had never seen him look so pale. He stopped next to the left tail light and stared back at the bridge.

We both sat there, mouths agape and eyes fixated on the bridge. If anyone else had been there, they could hear our hearts beating within our chests. Mine was beating louder than the engine in Daryl's truck which, I'm sure was fucked at this point.

I looked up at him. Beads of sweat poured from his forehead. His chest rose and fell rapidly. Our eyes met.

"You crazy redneck son of a bitch."

Then, in an instant, the biggest shit eating grin I'd ever seen spread across his face.

"Can we do it again?"

"No," I said. "This is not the Dukes of Hazard."

"I loved that show when I was a kid. Us Duke boys did alright."

"I'm not a boy, but if I was, my balls would have dropped a second time."

I hopped off of the back of the truck, and closed the tailgate. Daryl was still staring at the bridge. I looked back. The geeks were lined up at the edge of the opposite side, upset at the loss of their meal. Some of them didn't stop walking and fell into the gap with the others.

Staring back at the bridge made me realize something.

"Uh, Daryl, does this road loop around?"

"I don't know, probly. Why?"

"Think about it."

He wrinkled his forehead and thought for a moment. I knew when he reached his moment of clarity: his eyes widened.

"Shit."

"Exactly. What now?"

He turned around and looked at the road ahead.

"This road has gotta loop around," he said. "We'll have to come back 'round and find our way back."

I nodded, "Let's do it."

We got into the truck and drove away. I looked out the window into the overcast sky. I felt like I'd cheated death once again. I turned my head towards Daryl.

"I guess that was pretty cool. Even though you almost killed us."

He started to smile again.

"Better than bein' eatin' alive."

"Very true."

It took what I think was about an hour to get back to the campsite, but we did eventually find our way back. Which, I really appreciated. We came into the clearing of the camp. The smoke from the smoldering fire was weaving between the limbs of the trees and blended in when it reached the sky.

Daryl leaned forward in his seat and squinted. Then his hand reached for the handle that rolled the window down, and stuck his head out. He saw that something was amiss.

"The fuck?" he said.

I looked at him, then back at the camp.

"What's wrong?"

"Merle's bike is gone."

He stopped the truck, grabbed his crossbow and got out. I took my things as well, and stepped out. Daryl called for Merle: there was no answer. I walked over to the area where Merle usually parked his motorcycle.

"Daryl, there's tracks leading out of camp. Maybe he went to look for us?"

Daryl kicked the nearest object and sent it flying.

"Son of a bitch!"

He went on a rampage and started throwing various pieces of camping gear. Breaking some in the process. After he stopped, he stormed into his tent and emerged with a shotgun.

"Whoa! What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna go find him."

I started for the truck with him.

"No!" he yelled. "You're stayin'."

"What? Why?"

"I don't need two of ya to look after. 'Sides, I dunno what I'm gonna find."

"Daryl yo-"

"You're stayin'! I'll super glue your ass to one of those logs if I hafta! Either way, you ain't leavin'!"

I stepped back and clasped my hands in front of my body.

"Alright."

"I'll be back. If the geeks come, uh….hold on."

He went back into the truck and reached for an item on the top of the dashboard.

"Take this."

It was the flare that Merle gave him before we left earlier that morning.

"If a herd comes through here, shoot off that flare. I'll come back as quick as I can."

"Got it," I said.

He went to back to his truck and sped out of the campsite.

I stood there and watched until he was completely out of sight. I looked down at the flare in my hand and studied it. It had directions on the side for people like me who'd never used one before. I was really hoping I didn't have to use it in the brother's absence.

I turned back towards the campsite and the mess that Daryl had made. I made myself useful and cleaned it up, trying to fix a few broken things in the process. It was nothing major- mostly cooking utensils. A little annoying, but replaceable if we found the right place to scavenge.

After cleaning up Daryl's little rage-fest, I sat down with my book. Its main character used modern tools: the internet, cell phone, etc. I wondered if there would be a day when no one knew what those things were, and what they were used for. Then I remembered how much I missed those things. I would have given everything I had just for a phone call to my family. I thought of my parents and sisters sitting down in their underground bunker wondering what to do next. They probably thought I was dead. I'd get back to them eventually.

Eventually, my mind wandered back to Daryl and Merle. I was worried, and once again, the book I was reading never internalized. I was only staring at the words. It's a good thing I had lots of time on my hands to re-read it.

_"What if they never come back?"_I thought.

I wasn't helpless without them, but I felt much safer with them. I looked up from my book to the entrance of our small campsite. Like a dog waiting for their owner to arrive home, I waited for my makeshift family to emerge from the trees and tell me they were alright.

I felt lonely. I went into my tent, pulled out my cell phone, and turned it on. It took a moment to load. It had the nerve to inform me that it could not locate a signal. After waiting for it to complete its load-up, I went to look at my pictures. I flipped through photos of me and my parents, my dog, my boyfriend, and my sisters. I presumed that the dog and the boyfriend were gone for good. I'd accepted that while I was at Dexter's camp, and he explained to me the full extent of what was going on. I remember sobbing in his arms for what seemed like years. He seemed like such a great man then. It's funny how you think you know someone.

One by one, I relived the moment I'd taken all of those pictures. The day at Navy Pier with my folks, building snowmen with my significant other in the front yard back home in Marquette. I found a video of my 23rd birthday party. We were all so happy then, so blissfully unaware that just down the road, we would be separated and begging for each others company. I stayed and reminisced for a few hours. In those few hours, I forgot about the brothers, the walkers, and the end of the world. I was sucked into the screen of the phone before it died.

Then, I heard the feint sound of a motorcycle engine coming closer towards the camp. I got up and bolted out of my tent. There they were. Daryl's truck with its bent front bumper and Merle with his motorcycle trailing behind. I jogged towards them as they parked their vehicles.

"What happened? Where did you go?"

I had my hands on my hips and my phone still in hand.

Merle turned off his bike and looked towards me.

"I'm fine, thanks for askin'."

He showed me his silly grin and dismounted. I had a strong urge to hug him and inhale the motorcycle exhaust that clung to his shirt, but I hesitated. Instead, I managed a smirk and relaxed my arms.

Daryl came out of his truck and joined us on the other side.

"You won't believe where this asshole went," said Daryl.

He reached into the back of the truck and pulled out a full five gallon jug of water.


	8. Chapter 8-Closer

Well, well, well ladies and gentlemen, this is going better than I expected. I'm glad I finally posted this story after sitting on it for a month. Anyway, spring semester starts next Monday, so I will be updating the story less sporadically.

To the reviewers! Why? Because I like responding to your reviews, that's why!

Scooby! I'm glad the reference made someone's day..or hour…or minute…whatever…it didn't go unnoticed, that's the point. All we were missing from that scene was an obnoxious horn for D's truck.

Hussy- Merle works in mysterious ways haha

Eponyme Anonyme- I absolutely loathe cheesy love stories. I didn't want that for this story. Don't get me wrong, my OC and Merle have their thing going on, but I'm easing them into it. I didn't make Merle out to be a bad guy, because in essence, he's not…he just makes some questionable choices sometimes. I'm glad to hear you liked the first chapter! It was the most difficult to write. No worries about your English, it's a lot better than most people I encounter on a daily basis, believe it or not.

And here..we..go!

* * *

"Where did you get that?"

I looked back and forth between the brothers waiting for an answer.

"Does it matter?" asked Merle. "Point is, we got water."

"Of course it matters! I hope you didn't get it from that disgusting river Daryl and I saw."

Merle smiled.

"Nope. Got it from the lake."

My mouth fell open.

"How?"

Merle looked at his little brother.

"I went in shootin'."

"MERLE!"

They were quiet for a moment, but then started laughing.

"Calm your shit, I didn't shoot anyone. We had that one loaded up and ready to use for when we got back."

"Then what happened?" I asked.

Merle leaned against his bike.

"You two ladies were taking forever. I went to the quarry and got lucky, that's all."

"What do you mean, "lucky"?"

"They got some old timer for their lookout. He was either nappin' or blind."

There was a part of me that didn't believe him.

"Was he deaf, too?" I asked, pointing at Merle's motorcycle.

"I didn't drive it up there, dumbass."

I punched the side of Daryl's truck.

"You're the dumbass. They could have shot you, and we would've had no way of knowing!"

Merle stood up at this and got in my face.

"We got the water, which was what we needed. Stop bitchin' at me before I knock you on your ass!"

I got closer to his face.

"You don't got the balls."

He backed up and smiled.

"You sure 'bout that?"

My eyes shifted at the ground before staring him in the eye again.

"Yeah."

I was wrong. I got knocked on my ass. Merle walked over to Daryl, and took the water jug from him. He put his boot on my chest and poured the entire jug on me. By the time he was done, I was gasping for air and covered in mud.

"The hell is wrong with you?!" I said as I wiped water from my face.

Merle threw the jug down and removed his boot from my chest.

"I guess I don't have enough balls!" he said while grabbing himself.

He bent down and got in my face.

"Get it yourself next time."

He flicked me in the nose and got up.

"UGH!" I exclaimed.

I grabbed a handful of mud and threw it at him. He dodged it and started laughing before walking to the fire to have a seat around it.

I caught Daryl trying not to laugh as I helped myself up and flicked my arms to remove the mud. I glared at him, and he smiled back. I stormed over to the fire where Merle was sitting with yet another bottle of booze. I went through my pack to grab my pistol. After I found it, I started walking towards the woods. Merle stood up as I passed him.

"You gonna go cry?" he laughed.

I turned and shot his bottle of whiskey, spraying pieces of glass everywhere.

"Are you?"

If looks could kill, I would have dropped dead that very second.

I turned back around and continued my walk. It was a dick move, but God, it made me feel so much better. I was waiting for him to come barreling after me with his shot gun. I was pretty astonished when he didn't.

I didn't stray far from the campsite. My gun wasn't very full, and I didn't want to go on a journey. I found a tree that looked sturdy and climbed up. The branch on which I'd chosen to perch was thick and stable, and I'd be able to see almost anything coming my way.

I sat there and thought about what had just happened while picking off dried pieces of mud that had stuck to my skin and clothes.

_"As soon as it's dark, I'm going for more water. Stupid jackass wasted the entire jug."_

The more I thought about it, the more enraged I became. My thoughts went around in an endless loop. I was going to be in that tree for a long time.

_"I can't believe how much he overreacted."_

I overreacted.

_"How selfish!"_

He risked his life for me and Daryl for water. That's the exact opposite of selfish.

When I started to contradict myself, that's when I knew I had said some things I shouldn't have. As much as I hated to admit it, he was just trying to help. I grunted again and hid my face in my knees.

The wind blew through the forest and carried the scent of decaying flesh. That smell was commonplace at this point. The leaves chattered in the trees and stirred up an eerie atmosphere.

I looked up at the greys in the sky. The beginning of summer in Georgia was no longer filled with fun, friends, and parties like I'd anticipated. Instead, I was sitting in a tree cooling off after an argument over the water we didn't have with an angry redneck. All while in the middle of an apocalypse.

I brought my head back down so I could rest my chin on my knees. I was considering walking over to the quarry and introducing myself to the strangers there. It was going to be difficult to face Merle. Especially after I broke his bottle of whiskey. I smiled as the thought of the shattered bottle crossed my mind again. It still felt good.

I didn't know how to apologize to him. It wasn't like I could go to the nearest corner store and buy another bottle. Regardless, I needed to say something to him sooner or later. Not just because I needed to stay at the camp with him and Daryl, but because I legitimately enjoyed their company.

I sighed and hugged my legs tighter. I wasn't angry anymore, but I felt the need to stay in the tree until I thought that Merle wasn't upset anymore.

_"Another day or so up here wouldn't hurt,"_I thought.

I giggled at the thought of myself sitting up in the tree for a few days while waiting it out.

"What the hell you doing up there?"

A voice came out of nowhere and scared the hell out of me. I screamed, fell backwards out of the tree and braced for impact. The ground was hard and unforgiving. It did absolutely nothing to cushion the fall.

I pushed myself up to look at who had startled me. It was Merle.

"Karma's a bitch ain't she?"

"Oh, what do you want?" I asked as I rubbed my head.

"Well you've been out here at least an hour. Wonderin' if you were done poutin'."

"I wasn't pouting."

He laughed and held a hand down toward me.

"Then what were ya doin'?"

I pushed his hand out of the way.

"I was trying to calm down before I went back to camp."

I put my hand on the tree so I could stand.

"Seein' as you're still bein' a feisty bitch and all, I think you could use a few more minutes in the tree."

He picked me up and started to lift me up towards the branches of the tree. I kicked and put my hands on his chest in an attempt to get away.

"Merle, you put me down! Right now!"

He was trying to make me angry, and it was working.

"I'm just tryin' to make things right with you."

"Well, if this is an apology you got a funny way of going about it!"

"The more you struggle, the longer it's gonna take for you to get anywhere. I suggest you cool it."

I stopped struggling and looked at him.

"You 'bout finished?" he asked.

"Are you?"

"See here I am, tried to help you up and tried to put you back into your tree, and all ya do is get angry with me again," he said with a smile on his face.

"That's not fair. You're trying to make me mad on purpose."

He didn't respond, he just squeezed tighter and widened the smile on his face.

"Any chance you'll be putting me down now?"

"Not 'till you say you're sorry."

I nodded, "Fine, Merle. I'm sorry."

He looked disappointed that I'd said it instead of making the ordeal last longer. He loosened his grip and put me back on the ground.

I pulled my shirt back down and started brushing myself off. While I did this, Merle put his arm against the tree. It was like being in high school all over again.

"You know, you don't look half bad covered in mud."

"That a fact?" I smiled.

"Sure is."

He had his thumb in his belt loop and leaned in my direction. I squeezed my lips together and leaned towards him. Merle did the same, closed his eyes and tilted his head down towards me. He moved his arm down the tree so he could come in closer.

I pulled back, flicked him in the nose, and started to run for camp. I laughed the entire way back.

I slowed down to a walk when I saw the fire through the trees. I didn't see Daryl, but figured he was around since his crossbow was sitting on one of the logs around the fire. When I got closer, I saw that someone had attempted to clean up the glass from the shattered whiskey bottle. I walked passed so I could get into my tent. I changed into a somewhat clean set of clothes and threw the muddy ones into a corner.

When I walked out of the tent, Merle was just coming out of the woods, and Daryl came out of his tent.

"'Bout time you got back. I figured you'd become a meal," Daryl said.

"Nah, they said I was too dirty to be food."

Daryl smirked, then sat down at one of the logs and changed his socks. I walked around so I could sit. Merle just stood there with his hands in his pockets.

After Daryl pulled on his boots, he turned towards me.

"You still up for a trip to the lake tonight?"

I shot a look over towards Merle, then back at his brother.

"No other options."

He nodded then asked his brother how he got into the camp.

"There's a trail that leads from the top of the rocks to the bottom right next to the water," said Merle.

"That's what we gotta do then," said Daryl. "Let's pack the truck so we can leave soon as it's dark."

I nodded and zoned out as I stared into the campfire


	9. Chapter 9-Don't Shoot

Ooooh my! Nine chapters already. I'm not sure how that happened.

Anyway,

Anonyme- The stereotypes bug me as well. I think the reason they're turned into, I think you described it as female Rambo (love it) is just so they can be paired with Daryl…which ends up happening most of the time. And making a female character into the fragile princess during an apocalypse…don't get me started haha. But, to each his/her own, I suppose.

MelkS- Merle _is _a pretty determined guy. After all, Chris is most likely the first female he's seen in weeks that wasn't trying to eat his guts haha.

* * *

Instead of leaving as soon as it was dark, we left in the early hours of the morning. Which seemed like a better idea at the time, but it was mostly because we fell asleep. We had no alarms to wake us. Instead, Merle woke up first and yelled for us to move it. A startled Daryl immediately woke up and darted around the camp to find the last few things we didn't put inside the truck.

I lazily sat up to stretch my tired body. One side of me ached from falling out of my hiding spot in the forest. I rubbed my eyes and searched for my flashlight so I could dress and navigate my way out. I rolled out of the inflatable mattress and quickly discovered that the early morning came with an unpleasant chill. Standing there in my underwear didn't help. I walked around the tent and felt around for my pants. Rather than clothing I found a cylindrical object instead. It was the flare. I held onto it so I could put it in my pack after I got dressed.

After getting sorted, I stepped out of the tent into the cool morning. The campfire was lit, as usual. The brothers were standing around Daryl's truck, waiting for me.

"'Bout time," Daryl said. "Let's get outta here."

I walked to the passenger's side door, but before I could open it, Merle stood and front of me and pulled it open.

"You really aren't giving up, are you?"

He thought for a moment.

"Does a bear shit in the woods?"

I lifted one of my eyebrows.

"Yeah, sure. Listen, I grabbed that flare you gave Daryl. If we're in deep and can't get out, I'll light it."

"I'll keep an eye out."

He winked at me. I smiled, shook my head, and climbed into the truck. He closed the door behind me and slapped the side of the truck to signal to his brother it was time to go.

"Alright! Let's make like a tree and get the fuck out of here!" exclaimed Daryl.

I looked at him mouth open ready to correct him. I shut it and left it alone; it was kind of clever.

Daryl drove us a little closer this time since we would have to make a couple trips back and forth with the filled water jugs. He set the truck in park, but didn't move right away. He sat and stared at the steering column, as if he was expecting it to jump out.

"You okay?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah…if anything happens…run back to camp and get Merle. He'll know what to do."  
I was starting to wonder why Merle didn't come instead of me.

"I have that flare you handed me yesterday. If anything happens, I'm lighting it."

"A smart person would run."

"Guess I'm not that smart then," I laughed.

He didn't think it was funny. Daryl wasn't a very serious person, but when he did take something seriously, it was best to shut up and listen.

Each of us procrastinated before getting out either side of the truck, but finally climbed out hesitantly. We both took one jug from the back of the truck. I had the backpack and my bow. Daryl carried only his crossbow. We had agreed the night before that we wouldn't take guns. It would be easier to silently take down anyone trying to come after us. We were also dangerously low on ammunition.

"Okay, once we get in those woods, I don't wanna hear a peep outta you. Got it?"

"Got it," I said reassuringly.

"M'kay. Now, the plan is to walk down the trail, fill the bottles, and walk back to the truck to grab another to fill. As quickly and as quietly as we can."

"Let's get going."

He shut off his flashlight and led the way into the dark. Finding our way around the forest with no flashlights proved to be much harder than we had anticipated. Every few minutes, one of us would stumble over something, or Daryl would put his arm in front of me so I'd stop walking and he could listen for the dead. Thankfully, we didn't encounter anything trying to eat us in our endeavors.

After what had felt like an eternity, I could finally hear water trickling. We were getting close. Daryl and I walked over the last small hill and reached the rocks above the lake. I saw a small fire blazing in the distance next to the RV we'd seen the morning before. This was going to be a piece of cake. It was much too dark for whoever they had on watch to see us. Still, because it was likely they'd hear our voices echo if we spoke, we remained silent.

Daryl tapped my arm and pointed for me to follow him. He crouched so he could tread more carefully. I copied his movement and crept down while my feet carried me at a quick, but steady pace.

Below us, I could hear the water lapping against the wall of rocks we were standing on. Now and then, some of the rock came loose beneath our feet and dropped into the water making very small splashes that were almost inaudible.

Daryl put his arm back and stopped me. He reached down to see how close we were to the water. His arm instantly plunged in. I kept my eyes on the strangers' campsite, just in case they knew something strange was going on. Daryl tapped my arm again and reached for my jug. I handed it to him; he carefully plunged it into the lake to gather as much as he could. When it was full, he capped it, handed it back to me and began to fill his own. I turned and started to creep back to the truck. I was pulled back by my shirt. I caught my balance before I fell over and looked back to Daryl. The dark made it almost impossible to see his hands and figure out what he wanted me to do. Eventually, I figured out that he wanted me to wait for him before going back to the truck. It was best not to split up.

After his bottle was filled, we walked back up the path to the top of the rocks. The added weight hindered our ability to walk the path steadily, but we made it up with no real problems. When we got back to the truck, we plopped the jugs back into the bed of the truck. We felt victorious.

"'Kay," Daryl started. "We gotta do that three more times, then we can get the hell out of here. Think we can manage?"

"Definitely. Hand me another one."

We went in two more times, doing exactly what we'd done before.

On the way back from the second to last trip, we noticed that the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. That was the only day I'd wished it would stay away longer.

I set down my bottle on the tailgate of the truck and turned to my accomplice.

"Think we should chance it?"

"I don't see why not. It's not completely light out here. We got enough dark to hide under."

Daryl swung his crossbow over his shoulder and we went in for another dip. We walked through the forest with ease this time around. Once again, Daryl went first down the trail and filled both bottles. The sun was now half visible through the trees. I widened my eyes at Daryl, trying to signal to him that he needed to hurry. He brushed it off and kept working.

He finished once more and we headed back up the trail. Once we were at the top, a torturously loud bang came from inside the quarry. I fell forward, throwing the jug in the process. I heard Daryl's jug break apart; its contents splashed on my back. I turned just in time to watch him fall over the cliff into the lake below.

"Daryl!"

I looked over the ledge and saw him land into the water on his back. I waited to see any sign of life spring back up to the surface of the lake. He floated back up, but didn't move. I whipped the backpack in front of me to grab the flare. The sparks flew high into the sky; there was no way Merle wouldn't have seen it. I dropped my bow next to the bag, and took a few steps back. My legs carried me as fast as they could, and managed the largest jump they could as I dove in after Daryl.

The water almost froze my muscles solid. I came up chattering and gasping for air. I swam over to Daryl and placed a hand in his underarm so I could drag him to the shore. In the distance, I could hear the people in the campsite stirring.

_"Merle better hurry his ass up."_

Once on dry land, I started breathing into Daryl's mouth and pumping his chest. My work was quickly interrupted soon after when I heard footsteps running towards the shore. I pulled Daryl's crossbow from his body and aimed it upward just in time for the camp's residents to run around the corner guns drawn. There were three men: one was Asian, the second was an older gentleman, and the third was a larger man in a sheriff's baseball cap.

My body was shivering too much to keep the bow steady. If they shot, Daryl and I were doomed.

"Oh man, they're alive!" said the young Asian man.

The larger one looked back at him and scowled. They were just as shocked to see me.

"Put down your weapon," said the larger one. "We won't shoot if you cooperate."

I looked up at him, still convulsing from the cold, and then looked back at Daryl. I had to get him out of this.

Slowly, I lowered Daryl's crossbow, placed it on the ground, and showed him my hands. The larger man came towards me. He held his gun with one hand and slid the crossbow behind him with the other.

I was on my knees waiting for him to shoot me and Daryl.

"Is your friend alright?"

I was shocked. I couldn't answer him right away. My mind was still imagining a bullet rushing through it.

"Are _you_ alright?" He asked in a heavy southern drawl.

I still found myself without a voice.

He turned towards the other two men, "I'm gonna check this guy out. Why don't you see if you can't get a word outta her?"

He took a step towards Daryl's immobilized body. I clumsily shifted my weight back and lowered myself over Daryl.

"I ain't gonna hurt him. I used to be an officer, I can help your friend."

I lowered my head. I didn't have a choice. I moved away from Daryl, and the supposed officer of the law started to work on him.

"You alright?"

The older man held his hand out to help me up. I accepted.

"You're frozen! Why don't you come to the fire and warm up?"

I looked from him to Daryl.

"Don't worry about your friend. Shane's a good guy. He'll fix him up. C'mon."

He started to lead me up the road to their campsite.

"Hold on a 'sec," said Shane. "What's this guy's name?"

I stared at him blankly for a moment before my chattering mouth sputtered out "Daryl."


	10. Chapter 10-Freeze

Since I'm heavily influenced by the music I'm listening to while I write, I thought it would be interesting to make a playlist to go along with this story. I think I'll post it with chapter 11 or maybe 12. Either way, it's happening.

By the way, you guys are awesome. Seriously, if I could bake you guys a batch of awesome cookies just because of how awesome you are…you'd have some pretty awesome cookies. For the millionth and one time, thank you for showing Cherish some love.

Won't be the victim- Well, thank you. I try as hard as humanly possible not to make cookie cutter stories. I'm excited for more too. I think I might need an intervention; I'm having too much fun writing this story =)

Hussy- Extra awesome cookies for you! Glad to see you're sticking around.

MelkS- The rate of the chapters being posted is mainly due to the fact that most of the story was already written. I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted to post it. I edit the chapters for mistakes before I post them, and add a few things here and there. After chapter 10, it will be a little less frequent. However, I will accept your frequency award haha.

JericaMichele- I loved the Boondock Saints reference too. That's my absolute favorite quote from the movie, so I had to use it.

* * *

"Sorry about shooting at you. I thought you were one of _them,"_said the Asian man who's name I'd learned was Glenn.

"Well, I'm alive," I said as I turned to look at Daryl, who was still out cold. "But you'll probably have to explain a few things to him when he wakes up. He's got a bit of a temper."

He laughed nervously, then sat down. Shane sat in between us.

"You never did tell us your name," said Shane.

"I'm Chris."

"Well Chris I gotta ask, what were you two doin' up there?"

"We ran out of water. We were just trying to fill up our bottles."

He leaned forward and clasped his hands together. His head bobbed up and down as he stared at the ground.

"We didn't mean to scare you guys. Honest. We'd been a couple days without water, an-"

"No need to explain," said the older gentleman, Dale, put his hand up and interrupted. "Any of us would have tried to do the same."

He looked at Daryl lying beside the fire.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Yeah. It'll take more than that to take this one out," I said. "He's as stubborn as his brother."

I'd forgotten all about Merle.

"Oh God, Merle!"

"Who's Merle?" Shane asked.

"Daryl's brother. Y'know that flare I set off? That was to alert him that something had gone wrong. He's probably on his way here."

"Does he have a temper too?" asked Glenn.

I snorted.

"I'm pretty sure that's where Daryl got his," I said while thumbing towards him.

"Is he gonna go crazy when he sees his brother?" Shane asked.

I nodded, "Probably, but he'll be fine once I have a word with him."

I looked up and noticed another portion of the group staring towards me and Daryl like we were circus clowns. I didn't know what else to do, so I waved.

"There's a ton of people here. Did you all come here together?"

"Nah," Shane started. "We met them as we went along. 'Cept for Lori and Carl. They were with me."

"Your wife and kid?"

"Nah, a good buddy of mine. He…uh..."

"You don't have to explain. It's nice of you to be looking after them."

"He'd do the same for me."

I smiled at him and touched his shoulder. You could tell he'd been through so much. Just like the rest of us.

"Someone's comin'!"

The lookout on top of the RV had a set of binoculars and peered out towards the long, winding road. Sure enough, I heard the loud roar of Merle's motorcycle. I got up and ran towards the road. I had to be the one to talk to him before anyone else did. I stopped just before the road inclined and watched Merle drive down.

"Is that Merle?" Shane asked.

"Yeah. If I were you, I'd step back a bit."

He took my advice and stayed back a few feet from where I was standing. He sat on a rock and waited.

Merle stopped the bike in front of me. I could tell he came here expecting a fight. He picked up his shotgun, cocked it with one hand and raised it up towards Shane.

"You okay? Where's Daryl?"

He started walking towards Shane, who drew his gun. I gripped the barrel of the shotgun and pointed it down.

"There's no need for that. Put it down."

He looked at me before lowering it all the way. The heat in his eyes said it all, he'd been ready to come in shooting to get Daryl and I out.

"Y'aren't hurt?"

He grabbed one of my shoulders and spun me around. He lifted each of my arms, and lifted my hair to search for anything out of place. I took my arm back.

"Stop. I'm fine. I promise."

"Why are you all wet?"

"I had to go for a swim."

"What about Daryl?"

"Well…"

He lifted the gun at Shane again.

"What did you do?!"

"Knock it off, Merle! They thought we were geeks, so they shot at us. They missed and busted one of the water jugs. Daryl fell into the lake."

I took the shotgun from him this time.

"You calm down, and I'll take you to Daryl," I said. "He's alive, he's just unconscious."

He wouldn't take his eyes off of Shane. I'd never seen his glare get so intense. I cupped my hand on his cheek and pulled it towards me.

"Hey. We're fine."

He softened his face.

"Let me see my brother."

"Alright."

I nodded towards Shane, and he led the way back to the camp. I could feel Merle's eyes on the shotgun. He didn't feel safe without it. We walked up to the fire where Daryl was resting. Merle's gait quickened to a jog. When he was next to his little brother, he looked at him for a moment. The panic was instantly wiped from his face. He looked around the area for a second and found a cup of some type of unknown liquid; he splashed it on Daryl.

"C'mon bitch tits, it's time to get up."

He lightly slapped the side of Daryl's face; he began to stir. I sighed with relief and took the empty cup from Merle. The rest of the group was starting to crowd around the fire. I giggled to myself; I knew they were expecting some heart-warming reunion between the brothers. If they only knew.

Daryl sat up, and jumped back a bit. He was startled at the sight of so many people grouped around him.

"Which wonna you assholes shot at me?"

Merle looked just as interested and looked up towards the group. I walked in front of the brothers and blocked their view.

"It doesn't matter. We're both okay."

"Like hell it doesn't matter," said Daryl.

I put my fists on my hips.

"These people kept you alive."

"'Least they could do for nearly gettin' me killed."

Merle just stood there with his arms crossed, grinning.

"No, he's right. I was the one that shot. I thought you were a walker," said Glenn as he walked out of the group.

Merle uncrossed his arms.

"Almost shot down by a yellow-faced China man. How'd ya like that, little brother?"

I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. I wanted to go hide in a big black hole.

"Merle, please don't," I said. My face was in my palm. I didn't want to see their faces.

He walked over and put an arm around my waist.

"What? Am I embarrassing you in front of your new friends?"

I pulled his arm off of me and stepped back.

"Why don't you two start walking up so I can apologize to these people? Hm?"

Merle smiled and took a bow in front of me.

"C'mon little brother. She's got some Asian dick to suck."

My mouth fell open and I glared at him.

Daryl picked up his crossbow, then he and Merle walked up towards the motorcycle. I turned towards the group; mainly Glenn.

"I'm really sorry. They're…not always so right in the head."

They looked perplexed and confused. I knew what they were thinking: what was I doing hanging around with them?

"Thank you, very much. We'll be going now."

I twisted my fingers, and started to walk away. My head was hung. I felt terrible.

"Wait!"

I turned, it was Shane.

"You ever need water, come and get it. But, I don't wanna see those two around here, got it?"

"Yes sir. Thank you."

I shook his hand, and carried on towards the brothers. I walked to the shore of the lake and looked up. Daryl was at the top of the rocks again, gathering my bow, the backpack, and the last water jug. I started to walk past Merle and the motorcycle. I was still holding the shotgun, so I figured I'd be safe walking back to camp. Merle grabbed me by the arm on my way by.

"Where you think you're goin'?"

"Who? Me? I'm walking back to camp."

He smiled as I pulled my arm back.

"You gonna back up some stranger? Some chink? That ain't your group."

"It doesn't matter. I don't care what hang-ups you've got with race, but please, do NOT speak like that around me. Especially when we're in the company of the people who helped your brother and I. Now, Shane told me he'd let _me_ back for water. Which I think is very gracious, considering."

"I don't need no lectures from some uptight bitch."

I sighed heavily.

"Goodbye, Merle."

I started to walk up the road. I heard him turn on his motorcycle. The roaring came up behind me. He turned in front of me and cut off my path.

"C'mon, you can ride bitch."

"No thank you!"

I started to walk around the bike.

"Look, either you get on the bike, or you give me back my shotgun and walk back. Your choice."

My fists clenched, digging my nails into my palms. I turned and walked towards the bike and threw the shotgun at him, which he'd caught much to my dismay. He stood up on the bike to balance it while I threw my leg over the back. He revved the engine, then jerked the bike forward causing me to grab hold of him so I wouldn't fall. I could hear him laughing over the motorcycle's engine.

He thought this was the perfect time to take a long ride around the area so I could "cool down". We drove down an abandoned highway outside of Atlanta. The morning sun lit up fields of golden grasses. It was beautiful, even if there were dead people walking through it. It amazed me that while everyone had died, nature was still alive and thriving. It was a relieving and welcomed sight. Merle was right; this did make me feel better.

He stopped the bike in the middle of a bridge that had another dirty river flowing underneath it.

"What are we doing?"

"Gotta piss."

"Oh."

Merle stepped off to the other side of the bridge. While he did his business, I looked over the side to watch the filthy water flow beneath. I noticed the carcasses of small animals along the river side that had no doubt been munched on by the geeks. There were a few geeks about a half a mile down the river. I saw them brainlessly roaming around the area with no intention.

I heard Merle coming up behind me.

"What you lookin' at?"

"Dead people," I said casually.

He leaned against the rail of the bridge and watched with me. The wind blew that oh so familiar scent of the dead through our hair and clothes. I doubted that there was any escaping that smell by now.

"You still upset 'bout the Asian fella?"

I slowly turned my gaze towards him.

"I won't lie, it was a dick move," I said.

"I'll apologize to you, but I ain't sayin' sorry to any of those people."

That was as good as I was going to get. I was amazed I even got that out of him.

"I'll take it," I said. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you have against…you know."

"It's nothin' personal. Just don' like 'em."

"There has to be a reason."

"Guess it's just part of my southern charm."

"That's what you call it?" I laughed.

"Yeah, what do you call it back home?"

"Hmm…I guess if there was a term for it, it would be 'being a dick'."

I turned to head for the motorcycle, but stopped and leaned back against the rail.

"Although, I won't lie, you sure did bust your ass getting to the quarry. If anything had really gone wrong, I believe you would have got us out of there."

I leaned in and pecked him on the cheek.

"Thank you."

He looked at me like my hair was on fire.

"That's it?"

"I haven't completely warmed up to you, Merle Dixon. That's it."

"It's a start," he shrugged. "Ready to go back?"

I nodded.

He made another joke about me and the bitch seat of the bike. I punched his arm, and we drove off into the horizon.


	11. Chapter 11-Who's There?

MUUUUSIIIIC!

These are in no particular order.

Hands in the Sky (Big Shot) – Straylight Run (Itunes lists this song as Later That Year).

Piano Theme from Silent Hill 3- Akira Yamaoka

Black- Pearl Jam

Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2 – My Morning Jacket

Heart in a Cage – The Strokes

A Cure? – Emilie Autumn

Waiting For the Sun – The Doors

Adios – Rammstein

Dare – Gorillaz

When the Levee Breaks – Led Zeppelin

Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lonely Day- System of a Down

Nothing Else Matters (Piano Tribute to Metallica) – Scott D. Davis

Feel free to add or take away, but that's more or less the music I imagine going with this story.

Hussy- I know what you mean! It almost inspires me to write a letter to Michael Rooker and ask him for a recording. I love that man's voice.

MelkS- Now I can tell people I'm an award winning author…of sorts. Your English is pretty good actually. Like I'd mentioned earlier to another reviewer who had also apologized for their English, it's a LOT better than most of the people I encounter on a daily basis at work and school.

Anonyme- Why thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the intro =)

I apologize in advance for such a short chapter. I came down with a wicked case of writer's block this weekend DX

* * *

When I was on the back of Merle's bike, I wished it would last forever. The wind and exhaust blowing through my hair, mixed with the ambiance of the beautiful Georgian summer made me forget that everyone I used to know was either dead or close to it. I was hypnotized by the lines on the road zipping past us. I held tight to his leather vest, closed my eyes, and made a mental note to come back to this place the next time I was upset.

As I'm sure you know, all good things must come to an end. Merle turned the bike back down the dirt road that branched off and lead to camp. I put my hand out and let my fingertips graze the leaves on the trees as we passed by.

Merle parked his bike where he usually did, to one side of Daryl's truck under a tree and out of the sun. He balanced the bike and waited for me to dismount before he turned the key and got off. I walked around the truck and noticed that Daryl had unloaded all of the jugs from the truck. Sure enough, when I walked to the middle of the campsite there were seven large bottles of water grouped together.

Daryl was sitting on one of the logs around the fire, chewing on a piece of grass and working on more arrows.

"'Bout time you got back. Ya get lost?" he asked.

"No," I said. "We just went for a ride."

I walked passed and went into my tent for a change of clothes. One set left. Now that we had water, I could change that. I found a couple of wash tubs, a wash board and laundry soap.

I tied up my messy hair in a bandana and filled a pot with water to boil. The brothers watched on.

"Don't you wanna rest?" asked Merle.

"I'd rather have a clean shirt and pants."

"Clean clothes? Sounds good to me," Daryl said.

"Who said anything about cleaning yours?" I said. "I had to learn how to hunt and gut, so you can learn to clean your own clothes."

"I ain't gonna-"

He was interrupted by Merle, who slapped him in the back of the head.

"Get over there and wash your damn clothes."

I smiled and watched for my pot of water to heat up.

The rest of the afternoon was committed to showing Daryl the art of scrubbing clothes. He scrubbed, and I rinsed. Merle had set up a line for drying before going hunting for the night's meal.

"Not too shabby," I said to Daryl.

He was still pouting. He threw one of his shirts back in the tub.

"Still don't get why I gotta do this."

"Like I said, if I have to get my hands dirty, so do you."

He sighed.

"Fine, but I ain't washin' anyone's dirty underwear."

"I wouldn't let you wash my underwear if my life depended on it," I laughed.

He shook his head and picked up his work again.

That evening, we ate our meal in peace. Now that the water was back, we didn't have a lot to concern ourselves with, besides the obvious. The brothers were all out of silly stories, so instead threw beer cans and insults at each other. I wrapped myself up in a blanket and enjoyed dinner and show as they went at it. I began to wonder where their seemingly endless supply of alcohol was coming from, but I thought it better I didn't ask. Warm beer kept them happy, and that's all that mattered.

I passed out around the fire, still bundled up from the cold of the evening. I dreamed of running through those golden grass fields Merle and I had passed by earlier. The sun shone down and toasted my pale skin. I let the grasses run in between my fingers; it tickled at my ankles. The best part about the dream was that there were absolutely no geeks to be found anywhere.

I saw the brothers lying in the field, chewing on the grasses. I ran to them and took my place in between. The ground was warm and welcoming on my back. I smiled at each of them, and they smiled back. We were finally happy and free. As I stared up at the sky, the clouds started to roll in. They looked as if someone threw soot into the sky and had stained it black and grey. I sat up from my warm sanctuary in between the brothers and stared. Thunder and lightning filled my senses. Small droplets of rain fell onto my hair and nose. I turned to see Daryl and Merle, but they were no longer next to me. Instead, they were standing and walking away in the distance. I yelled for them to come back, but instead they waved for me to run and follow them. I ran towards them as hard as I could muster, but the harder I ran, the further away they were. I stopped and stared as a wave of hopelessness filled my entire being. As I fell to my knees in the middle of the field, I wept for their absence. As I kneeled, the golden grass in the fields turned to ash, and the dead emerged from the soil underneath. They circled me, leaving me with no way to escape. I cried the brother's names in anguish, hoping they would save me, but it was too late.

Merle woke me up from the dream. I couldn't be sure if it was him or his brother at first, I had to wipe tears from my eyes to see him. I must have made a scene in my sleep because the expression on his and his brother's face said it all. It was a strange combination of concern and pity.

"Storm's rollin' in," said Merle. "Ya gotta get up."

He helped me up from the ground and sure enough as soon as I stood the rain began to come down. At first, it fell as tiny droplets, but changed to what I can only seem to describe as thick water grenades.

Maybe I was still partially asleep.

I pulled the blanket up over my head and ran to my tent. I turned and zipped up the door. I was hoping that one of the brothers were in the doorway. I hated the thought of being alone on a stormy night.

Before I sat down on my bed I lit the lantern I had hanging from the top of the tent. I stayed up nearly all night waiting out the storm. My sleeping bag acted as a cocoon; I buried myself deep inside to stay warm while the storm raged outside.

The tent felt like it would blow up off of the ground. Part of me hoped that if it did, I would be like Dorothy and end up in some unusual place. As long as there were no walkers around, I wouldn't mind.

Eventually, the storm subsided, and I finally fell asleep just as the sun was coming up. I remained asleep until the early afternoon when something climbed into my tent. It crept up next to my bed and started to tickle my face. Startled, my arm swung around and punched it. I reached to the other side to grab my gun, stood, and pointed it at the thing that disturbed my sleep. There was Daryl, curled up in a ball on the floor of my tent, holding his crotch.

I have yet to make a list of pranks you shouldn't play in the middle of the apocalypse, but this was one of them.

"Oh God! Daryl, I'm so sorry!"

He gasped for air, and looked up at me.

"What's…wrong….with…huuh…you?!"

"_Me?!_ What's wrong with you? You can't do things like that anymore! What if I'd shot you?!"

Merle stepped in to see what the commotion was. He saw his brother grabbing at himself on the floor and burst out laughing.

"What's the matter baby brother? She scare ya back?"

I unwrapped myself from the blankets, and stepped off of the bed to my first aid kit. I grabbed a crushable cold pack and went to Daryl's side.

"C'mon, let's go outside. You can sit down and put this on your...uh…"

He put his hand up, not wanting me to say the word 'balls'. I slipped on some shoes, and helped him up to the logs around the fire. I crushed the icepack between my palms, and handed it to him.

"You can handle the rest," I said.

"You already touched 'em once. May as well do it again!"

"Shut up, Merle," I said, glaring.

He was still laughing.

"Oh, by the way, I don't mind you runnin' 'round like that, but you planning on putting on pants today?" he laughed.

I looked down. I was still in my underwear. That's when I'd really begun to hate that day.

After all of the embarrassment I'd suffered that morning, I felt like showing my face to the brothers was asking for more trouble. I knew Merle wasn't going to let any of it go. As soon as he left the camp, I came out of the tent for a chance to sit around the fire. Before I sat, I took another ice pack out of my first aid kit for Daryl. He was lying down next to the fire with a rag over his face.

"Here, that one's probably spent by now."

I saw one eye peer out from under the rag as he lifted it. He pulled the used ice pack from out of his pants.

"Trade you," he said while holding the pouch towards me.

"No…thanks. Ew."

He chuckled, "What am I supposed to do with this one?"

"I don't know, but I don't want it."

He threw the used one into the bushes. I squeezed and cracked the new one so he could use it. He took it and shoved it down the front of his pants.

"I'm really sorry, Daryl."

He squinted up at me.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I understand," I said smiling.

I turned to walk away.

"Hey," he said after me.

"Yes?"

"Don't think I won't be gettin' you back for this."


	12. Chapter 12-Blur

Hussy- Soon. Very soon.

MelkS- Daryl gets lonely too…just kidding. I was definitely not insinuating that his crotch was in her face. The thought makes me laugh (the moment I read that, all I could think of was stripper Daryl), but still definitely not what was going on. I took that portion of the story from something that happened to me a couple weeks ago. Basically, my older brother thought it would be funny to pester me while I was sleeping (you know how the usual gag is to put shaving cream in their hand, then tickle their nose? Usually with their fingers or feathers. Same concept, minus the shaving cream). He was bent over my bed and my first reaction was to punch. Aaaand I ended up punching him in the nether regions. Not on purpose, of course. I guess it's my fault for not specifying what he was touching her with, but because she was sleeping she would never know either. But I will say that it was _not_ his crotch. No matter how funny that seems.

* * *

The only other thing I really lamented about the apocalypse was the rate at which boredom reared its ugly head. There were only so many things you could do for amusement so many times before you were sure your head would explode.

That's exactly how I felt. I'd rinsed and repeated so many times that I was sure my head would blow up into a million little pieces.

I'm sure Daryl felt the same way: his 'parts' were still sore from earlier that morning, and hadn't moved from his seating arrangement since. It hurt him to walk, so he sat and glared at me for the rest of the afternoon.

His elder brother was still gone. Probably to find something to kill for a meal. If not, with Daryl immobilized and all, I would have to be the one to leave camp and find something if he didn't return soon. I started to gather my things, just in case.

I sat down near Daryl and laced my boots.

"Where you goin'?"

"Someone's gotta feed us. Merle isn't back yet, so I assume it'll have to be me."

He started to sit up.

"Don't be dumb. I can go."

"Nah. Stay here and rest. I got this."

"Whatever you say. Just don't-"

He stopped talking and nudged me out of his view.

"Hey! You better get outta here before I come over there and whoop your ass!"

I turned.

"Who the hell are you talking to?"

"Someone's over there watchin' us!"

I loaded my bow and drew it back on my way over to the bush. As soon as I got close, something popped out and ran back into the woods. I darted in after it.

"Wait!" Daryl yelled.

I didn't wait. I scrambled after it. The greens and browns of the forest blurred by my peripheral vision. Branches smacked me in the face and left small scratches. I huffed and puffed my way through the woods, trying my best to concentrate on the footprints and my surroundings. Whatever I was following was very quick on its feet. I was trying very hard to remember the tracking lessons the brothers had taught me. They were really coming in handy now.

Suddenly, the footprints stopped.

_"Merle taught you how do deal with this. What did he tell you to do? Think!"_

I had a flashback of a particular day when Merle had gone out into the forest to make prints while I stayed at camp and waited. He'd done the same thing: made the tracks stop at a random point.

_"How did I solve this last time?"_

I stepped back a couple of feet to see exactly where they stopped. I leaned down to get a better look at the tracks. It was a very small boot print. I knew at that point I was either following a kid, or a very small person.

I heard Merle's voice ringing in my ears.

_"Concentraaaate,"_his voice sang. _"Listen."_

I did what imaginary Merle said, I stood up and I listened to my surroundings. I heard the wind making the trees sway, birds chirping, the dead off in the distance, my own heart beating, and breathing. Very small panicked breaths. But from where? I lowered my chin to my chest, and listened harder.

_"Merle was hiding in one of the trees behind me."_

My eyes flew open. I pulled back the bow again and aimed it up a tree to the left of me.

"Get down here!"

At first, there was silence. I thought for a moment I may have been wrong, but then I heard the leaves begin to rustle. It was coming down very slowly. I was getting impatient, but I knew it was best to hold. Eventually, a boot emerged from the tree, along with the rest of the small being climbing out. I held my stance and kept my sights on it, just in case.

When it turned from the tree, I saw one of the little boys from the quarry camp. I lowered my bow.

"What the hell?" I said puzzled. "What are you doing out here?"

He kept his wide eyes on my bow. He thought I was going to shoot him.

"I just wanted to see your guys' camp."

"Huh. Okay, well you saw it. Your mom's probably freaking out by now. I'll take you back to our camp, then we'll borrow Daryl's truck to get back to yours."

His face turned a bit paler when I'd mentioned Daryl

"That guy won't be mad?"

"He'll get over it. He looks scarier than he is."

He smiled at me.

"Okay."

He walked next to me on our way back to camp.

"How did you make it this far without walking into any geeks?"

"I didn't, I mean, I did, but I snuck past."

"Don't tell your mother that, uh, what was your name again?"

"Carl."

"Well, Carl, I-"

I stopped and put my hand in front of the boy to stop him as well. I heard a very familiar sound. With it, came a very familiar smell. There was a group of walkers coming our way.

"What do we do?" Carl asked.

"Don't panic. Just…run. C'mon let's go."

Don't panic. I had to keep telling myself that as well.

I turned us around, and once again, we were on the run. The dead were slow, but they could catch up rapidly if we went any slower than a jog. Once again the brush and branches scratched at our skin, making the old scratches longer and wider.

I could hear more geeks in our area; they were attracted to the noise we were making, and most likely our smell. It was like they were coming from every direction. The groans circled around us.

Eventually, Carl started to lag behind. We had to stop so we could catch our breath. Carl bent over and panted as he grabbed his knees. I leaned my back against a tree to rest. I could still hear them approaching in the distance.

I looked around the forest to see our options. Carl did the same.

"Hey!" He exclaimed.

He was pointing off into the distance.

"Is that a house?"

It was! I turned towards him.

"That's where we're going until they clear out."

There was a walker behind him.

"Duck!"

I pulled a pistol from my jeans and shot it in the head.

"Let's get to the house. That gunshot is going to send them here."

We jogged up to the front porch of the house. I pulled out my knife and handed it to Carl.

"Use it only if you have to. Right in the head."

He was terrified.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I have to go in and make sure there's none of them in there. Don't move from this porch. I'll only be a minute."

He nodded.

I lifted my bow and scoped out the house. Nothing downstairs. I felt the stairs creak under my boots as I ran up. I checked the rooms as quickly as I could.

Then I heard Carl yell from the front porch. I jumped down the stairs and ran to the front door. There they were, stumbling towards the house. I picked off all but one with my bow.

"Get in the house!" I yelled to Carl.

He ran inside without hesitation. I ran in behind him, and slammed the door shut.

"Back away from the door."

Carl stood on the stairs, still holding the knife. The last walker was pounding on the front door. I went to the stairs to sit with Carl.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I think so."

I heard the floorboards creak upstairs. The boy and I sat there, frozen and terrified, staring up at the stairs. I knew what was coming down, but I hoped it was something else. The creaking came closer to the top of the stairs. I stepped in front of Carl. Two more moaning floorboards, and there it was. It was a dead man in boxer shorts. He took one step and started to tumble down the stairs towards us. I almost pushed Carl off of the stairs in an attempt to get us down quickly.

We backed ourselves into the kitchen and watched as the walker started to get up again. I looked into the kitchen to find something to save us. I had no arrows, and I didn't want to use the gun; it would only attract more. I wanted Carl to keep the knife, just in case. There had to be more knives in the kitchen. As I searched frantically, I noticed a bathroom just off to the side. I quickly opened it asked Carl to get inside. As soon as I did, the geek came up behind me. Carl screamed and threw the knife at it. The knife stuck into its neck and it fell forward into me, and I fell into the bathroom. I crashed into a mirror that made up an entire wall. The glass shattered, and large chunks of glass rained down.

When I tried to get up, I rolled over a very large shard. It cut deep into my side and let out a generous quantity of blood. I screamed in pain and looked over at the geek. It was still coming.

Carl was in the bathtub with his face covered. It was getting closer and closer to me. My body wouldn't move. I screamed and cried out as I waited for it to close its jaw around my flesh. I squeezed my eyes shut. Hot tears stung the scratches on my face.

"Carl! You have to run! Now!"

He didn't budge.

The geek's hands touched my frozen body. It screeched before opening its mouth wide and bending towards my arm. I braced myself for more pain.

Then, what I can only describe as the holiest of miracles. A large boot came down and smashed the walker's head open. I looked up to see Merle with his shotgun in hand. He pulled the walker out of the bathroom by its feet and got on one knee in front of me.

"What we got here? This is a bad time to be nappin'."

I sat up and wrapped my arms around his neck. The pain from my side intensified. I buried my head in his chest and wept. He leaned down and picked me up, then turned to Carl who was still in the tub.

"C'mon boy. Get outta there."

Merle carried my broken body across the kitchen and set me down on the kitchen counter. As I set my head down on the cold granite, he looked down at his hands and saw that they were covered in blood. His face flushed.

"Did you get bit?"

I shook my head no.

He went around the other side of the kitchen counter to look at my wound. He pulled apart either side of my jacket to get a better view.

"How much further to your camp?" he asked Carl.

"I-I'm not sure, ten minutes maybe?"

Merle went into the living room and tore the curtains down from the window. He ripped it into sections and came back to the kitchen.

"Sit up."

I sat up; he unzipped my bloody jacket and tossed it to the floor. Afterwards, he pressed on my chest so I'd lie back down.

"I gotta pull the rest of the glass out. This ain't gonna feel good."

He turned and handed one of the strips of curtain to Carl.

"Put this in her mouth and pull down. Screamin' is gonna attract more of those things."

Carl's eyes looked as if they'd pop out of his head. He looked towards me.

"It's okay," I said.

He came to the head of the counter and did what Merle had asked him. He pulled the dusty curtain into my mouth and held down.

When Merle said it wasn't going to feel good, it was the understatement of the year. He held down my left arm and pulled at the glass with his other hand. My body twitched and my legs kicked. I screamed for him to stop, but he kept going.

When the pain became too much to bare, I passed out.


	13. Chapter 13-Stitches

Thanks again guys! Reading all of your reviews and seeing you all follow/favorite makes me smile =)

MelkS- He must get it from his mother.

Hussy- Exactly why Carl and Chris happened upon a house haha.

Jess144- Merci. Je n'ai pas l'intention de quitter de sitôt. =)  
It's been awhile since French class, but I think that's right haha.

Anonyme- Oh my goodness. You know what ? I was actually scared to post that chapter haha. You just made me feel one hundred times better. Carl frustrated the hell out of me in season two. I wanted to walk into the tv and drag him back to the house.

Hateofme- Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

* * *

As I came in and out of consciousness, my blurred vision caught glimpses of the forest rolling by. Merle held my shoulders in tight and ran as he carried me through the trees. I could hear his rapidly beating heart over the dead behind us. I saw who I think was Carl running in front leading the way back to his camp.

I caught a glimpse of Merle's face above me. He was drenched in sweat from the hot Georgia air. He was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't make it out. I saw his lips moving; all I heard was his muffled voice. I closed my eyes again and listened to their feet beat against the ground. My side stung every time Merle's running steps bounced me up and down. I could feel the blood plastering my shirt to my skin.

I opened my eyes again and saw that we were close. The quarry lake was in front of us under the winding road. I also saw the quarry's members running towards us. The gap closed between us in seconds. I heard Merle's fiery voice yell out to them.

The last thing I saw was Shane's face as Merle passed me over to him.

When I woke, I felt rested, but very sore. My side throbbed and ached as I turned over. I opened my eyes. The bedding I was lying in looked and felt so familiar. The tent I was in was also familiar. I was in _my _tent. Merle must have taken me back to our camp. I pulled back the blankets and looked down at my beaten body. My shirt was gone, but there were shorts covering the tops of my legs.

My torso was wrapped in bandages from my breasts to my belly button. I could not see any blood on the dressings; when I grazed my hand over the wound, it felt like I'd been stitched. My legs swung to the side of the bed, and I started to stand. The pain took over my body and senses. I fell back to the bed. I was still for a moment before attempting it again. This time, I got on my hands and knees and pushed myself up from the ground. I staggered a bit before finding my balance again and standing straight up.

I stumbled towards the opening of the tent and unzipped it. What I saw outside was not our camp. It was the quarry. Daryl's truck and Merle's motorcycle was there, as well as their tents and the rest of their camping gear.

I took a step outside the tent. The dirt on the ground scrunched between my toes. I brought my other foot forward and I started feeling the camp spin. I collapsed down to my knees.

"What the hell you doin'?!"

I saw Daryl drop what he was doing and run over. He dropped down and pulled my arm up around his shoulder.

"You got no business getting up and walkin' around."

"I see that you're walking around."

He helped me lower myself on the inflatable mattress.

"You punched me two days ago."

I couldn't believe I'd been asleep for that long.

Daryl reached down to pull the blankets back on the bed.

"Rest."

"I've been resting for two days, Daryl. I'll feel useless in here."

"You're gonna be useless until Merle or I say."

I wasn't really in a position to argue. Even if I succeeded in leaving the tent, he would have brought me back inside.

I pulled my legs back under the covers, and pulled them back.

"I'll find somethin' for you to do," he said. "Be right back."

I piled a couple of pillows behind my back so I could sit up. The tent seemed more like a prison now that I couldn't leave it. I heard children from the camp playing outside, and I could smell food cooking over the fires. I never wanted to leave the tent so bad. Instead, I sat in silence and twiddled my thumbs.

I heard someone approaching the tent from the outside. The door zipped back open and revealed Merle. He was holding a book in his hand.

"Daryl thought you might want somethin' to keep ya busy."

He walked over and crouched beside the bed.

"Couldn't hurt, I suppose," I said.

As he set the book down, I felt the room spin again. I shook my head to bring myself back.

"We need to change your bandages."

I turned to him.

"Who's we?"

He laughed.

"Who you think's been changing them?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Did you want one of these other people to change them out? Someone you don't know?"

"Surely, they have a woman who knows how to clean a wound."

"Not like I've never seen tits before. Someone needed to stitch you up."

I lowered my eyes half way at him.

"That's not the point. I'm not comfortable with the idea of you looking at me."

"Well you'd better, cause we gotta do it again soon."

I sighed heavily and glared towards him.

He started laughing again.

"I'm just messin' with ya. One of the girls from the camp did it all. I offered, but they didn't think it would be right."

I shook my head. I was so relieved.

"Did we move in here?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Shane thought it would be best for you to be here. But he knew that you weren't gonna leave us, so he and I came to an agreement and here we all are."

"It may be a good thing. Safety in numbers?"

The tent door was peeled back and a woman popped her head in.

"She ready?" she asked.

"Ready as she'll ever be," said Merle.

He stood up and looked towards the woman.

"Chris, this is Carol. She'll be cleanin' you up."

I nodded. He reached his hand down to me, and I grasped it; he counted to three then pulled me up. I cringed as I stood. My side felt tight.

"I can take it from here," Carol said.

"Yes ma'am," Merle replied.

He looked down at me for a moment before turning and exiting the tent. We both watched as he left.

"Let's get to it."

"Alright," I said.

I turned my body to find the end of the bandages.

"Let me. You don't need to be twisting and turning. You'll bust your stitches."

"Thank you."

She smiled and unwrapped me. Then, she turned me so my injury was facing her.

"Those boys are a handful. How long have you been with them?"

"Oh, I don't know. Almost a month, I suppose."

"That's all?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "Daryl saved me from becoming a free meal. I've been with them ever since. I know they seem off at first, but they start to grow on you."

She shook her head.

"I don't know, I'd be worried about a young lady bunking with a couple of strange men. Especially nowadays."

I turned my head towards her and furrowed my brow.

"Daryl and Merle aren't like that. Or at least Daryl isn't. Even so, Merle would never take advantage of me."

"But he's tried to _be_ with you?"

"He's a lonely man living out in the middle of nowhere with his little brother for company. I can't blame him for trying."

"Whatever you say. Stay still for a moment. This may sting a little."

She dabbed a little peroxide on with a cotton ball. I wished everyone would stop lying when they say it will only hurt a little.

After she finished her work, she wrapped me back up and sent me back to bed.

"You too, huh?"

"You need your rest. I'll bring you something to eat in a little while."

She started to leave.

"Carol," I said after her.

She poked her head back in.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem."

After she left, I wanted her to come back. It was a long time since I'd had a conversation with another female. It was sort of refreshing to not hear a fart joke.

Carol brought the meal she mentioned about an hour later. I guess I didn't realize how hungry I was until I saw the plate. I also didn't realize how fast I could eat. Carol watched in awe as I devoured what she brought me.

I stared back at her while some of it hung out of my mouth.

"Sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it," she laughed

"CAROL!"

She squeezed her shoulders in and turned towards the opening of the tent. I don't think I'd ever seen someone so uncomfortable when someone called their name.

"My husband's calling. I should go."

She exited the tent in a hurry, and left the opening to the tent unzipped.

I finished my meal and set the plate next to the bed. I tilted my head back on the pillow, feeling extremely satisfied. I'd almost wanted to fall back asleep. The book that Merle left beside the bed caught my eye. The cover looked colorful.

I picked it up. It was called _John Dies at the End. _It was written by a David Wong. It had a hand flipping pages on the front. When I turned it to the back, the hand continued into an arm, which was dismembered at the end.

"I wonder where the hell they got this."

My curiosity got the best of me, so I opened it up and started reading. To my surprise, it was actually pretty interesting.

I looked up from my book and looked outside. The brothers were busy chopping wood. I couldn't really see the rest of the camp's members from where I was. The brothers and I were tucked into the back of the camp, a little separated from the rest of the group.

Other than reading and watching from the tent, there wasn't much for me to do. I would have killed to go outside and sit near the fire while Daryl and Merle cut wood. The next two days were like this. Every once in a while, Carol would come in to clean the cut in my side, or one of the guys would come in with a new book, or a hot meal.

When I was finally able to go outside, Carol did her usual ritual, then Merle came in with a shirt for me to wear.

"It's Daryl's. Not your color, but it buttons rather than going over your head. Thought it might be more comfortable for you."

He was right. I could barely lift my arms to put them in the holes of the shirt. I couldn't imagine what moving them higher would feel like. I had to have Merle hold the shirt while I backed into it. I was able to turn and button it, which made me feel a bit better. I could do at least one thing for myself.

Merle pushed down the bottom of the opening to the tent so I wouldn't trip on it, and helped me out. The outside air felt wonderful on my skin. I took in the familiar scent of the campfires.

"'Bout time you got outta bed!"

I looked over at Daryl, who was sitting on the back of his truck.

I smiled, but I didn't say anything.

I looked up and saw the RV. On top was Glenn watching over the quarry. He waved down at me. My arm went up as high as it could, and I waved back. I caught Merle glaring at him from behind me. I smacked his stomach with my other hand.

"Stop it."

He rubbed it and stuck his tongue out at me.


	14. Chapter 14-The Edge

The next morning, I heard birds chirping and squirrels chattering as they hopped from tree to tree. I sat up in bed and stretched out my legs. I didn't dare move my arms anywhere near the top of my head; I wanted to start the day off with as little pain as possible. It was already a difficult task to refrain from turning onto my left side in my sleep; which I'd done at least twice during my slumber. Whenever I had turned onto it, I'm sure the whole camp had known. Each time, woke up cursing and moaning.

I grew impatient for anyone to help me up off of the mattress, so I rolled off and pushed myself up off of the ground. Daryl had let me borrow a couple more of his shirts until I was able to lift my arms. I picked one up off of the back of a chair I had in my tent, then attempted to put if on. At first, I struggled to throw it over my shoulders but eventually I'd found the perfect method to put it on without anyone's help.

After I'd finished dressing for the day, I unzipped the door to my temporary home and stepped outside. The morning air was brisk and wonderful. You could barely smell anything dead; that was a beautiful thing.

The sleepy sun was still coming up over the trees. Hardly anyone in the camp was awake and functioning. However, I'd noticed Dale on the top of his RV keeping watch over the camp.

He waved down at me when he saw me approach.

"Nice to see you up on your feet!"

"Thank you. I'm happy to finally be out of that tent."

"I bet. You get the book I sent with Daryl?"

"Yeah. It was um…interesting."

"Thought you'd like that one," he laughed. "Amy thought it was repulsive, and couldn't get passed the first chapter."

I looked around the camp for a moment.

"I figured everyone would be up by now."

"End of the world," he shrugged. "No one really has a need for a schedule."

"I suppose not."

Dale looked down at his gun, then looked back out over the quarry.

"I think I'm going to take a walk down to the lake."

"You sure you're alright to go alone? The Dixons won't make a fuss if you walk away without waking them?"

"I'm a grown woman. They won't care. Besides, waking them is like poking a bear with a stick."

He didn't look convinced.

"I don't know they seem awful protective over you."

I looked back at the brother's tents and vehicles.

"We're just an odd family. We look out for each other."

"Alright, well, just be careful."

"Will do."

I headed up the path towards the edge of the lake. The dirt path was neatly dragged out. It made me wonder what purpose the quarry served before everything happened. A campground maybe?

I could feel the rocks and dirt getting stuck in the crevices of my boots on my way down the winding road. As I got closer to the lake, the dirt turned to sand. I crouched down and felt it between my fingers. Not exactly the beach, but I'd accept it. I took a seat on a nearby rock to pull my socks and boots off. It took me a couple of tries to get myself back on my feet, but once I was, I carefully stepped towards the edge of the lake and stood in the water. The combination of the sand and water moving between my toes was enough to keep me smiling for days. It was a simple pleasure that I was definitely grateful for.

Since the water looked inviting, I waded in a bit more. It was still chilled from overnight, but not as overwhelming as a few days before. I stopped when the water reached the bottom of my shorts. I stared over the lake and listened to the frogs croak. At that moment, I thought that maybe we had found a place we could stay while waiting for everything to return back to normal.

After staring into the deep end for some time, I couldn't resist the temptation any longer; I submerged my body into the water. It covered my head, and I felt my hair float behind me. It was nicer this time; I wasn't trying to save anyone from drowning. It was almost like a cold bath without soap, which I'd needed desperately at the time being.

After a few moments of enjoyment, my lungs were starting to burn. I came back up to the surface. My sopping wet hair had moved in front of my eyes, completely blocking my view.

_"I may have to consider cutting this off." _

I used my hand to whip the hair back out of my eyes. I grabbed at it so I could ring it out as I turned around. Low and behold, there was Merle sitting on the ground at the edge of the water. He startled me. I'd almost fallen back into the water.

"Good morning Merle."

"Looks like it. What were you doin'?"

"Just because the world ended, doesn't mean that hygiene went with it."

"That smell was you this entire time?"

I lowered my eyes at him.

"Ha. Ha. Ha," I said sarcastically.

He pointed up at me, "Probably not a good idea to get those bandages all wet."

"I'll survive," I shrugged. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I heard the old man yappin' at you. Woke me up."

"I see. Well, I think I'm going to head back up."

I waded out of the lake, and started to grab for my socks and boots. He pulled them back out of my reach.

"You know I can't bend," I said.

"I know. I'm tryin' to get you to stay longer."

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, and thought about it for a moment. It would have been a little ungrateful of me to not stay like he'd wanted, and at least he was blunt.

"Alright," I said.

I sat down on a nearby rock, and faced towards him.

"You have my attention."

"I was hopin' you'd be sitting over here."

I smiled.

"I can't bend down that far."

He nodded.

"Guess I'm coming up there to you then."

I uncrossed my arms and put my hands flat on top of the rock. He sat to my left, stretched his long legs out, and dug the heels of his boots into the ground. We sat in silence for a moment, and listened to the lake lap against the rocks and sand.

"Merle, I've been meaning to ask, how did you find Carl and I?"

"You two were makin' so much noise. Kind of hard to miss."

"I didn't think we were that loud."

"You were. If you two dipshits had kept yourselves quiet and out of site, your side might not be achin'."

I squeezed my eyebrows together and looked at him.

"What else were we supposed to do? We had to run. I don't know anything about kids, I didn't know how to calm him down."

"Kids aren't rocket science. Tell 'em that you'll kick their ass if they act up. That's how you do it."

"That may work for you, but it doesn't work for me."

"Worked for Daryl."

"What do you mean?"

He stared down at his feet, and pushed out his bottom lip.

"I made that boy into the man he is today. He'd be shootin' himself in the eye with that crossbow if it weren't for me."

"That explains a lot," I snickered.

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You two are almost exactly the same. It makes me wonder what he would be like if you weren't around."

"He'd be the same."

I didn't respond. I kept my gaze at the ground and my boots.

"You like it here?" he asked.

"I don't know yet. It's peaceful so far, but I'm not sure that it will last….Do _you _like it here?"

"Not really, Shane pisses me off."

"Why? He seems like a nice guy to me."

"Always has to act like he's alpha male around here. I was gettin' along fine without anyone tellin' me what to do."

I understood why he was mad. He went from top dog, to the bottom of the ranks. All he had control of was Daryl and I.

"Well, as far as I'm concerned we're guests here. They control their people, we control us. Nothing wrong with that. Besides, your brother and I still need you for guidance, if that makes you feel better."

"Pfft! Yeah, much better."

I smiled and turned back towards the lake. The sun was now up over the trees, and the chill from the morning was almost gone.

From a distance, you could hear someone's running steps echoing throughout the quarry. Merle and I looked up to see two kids, one of which being Carl, running towards the lake with Lori close behind. When she saw us sitting there, she jogged up behind them quickly.

"Kids, wait!" she said.

She got in front of them and approached us.

"We're not interrupting anything, are we?"

"Not at all."

As soon as I'd said that, Merle got up from the rock and walked up the hill towards camp. Lori and I watched as he walked away.

"You sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure he's just…I don't know, I'm going to get back up there."

Lori handed me my boots and helped me up when I was done putting them on.

"Thanks."

"No, thank you. I never got to tell you that for keeping Carl safe. He told me everything."

"No problem. He's a good kid."

She smiled.

"Do you need help getting back up there?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. See you later."

I started my way back up the hill towards the camp. When I looked up towards the RV, I saw that Dale was still up there looking over the area with his binoculars. By this time, nearly the entire camp was awake and starting to move around.

Carol was hanging clothes up to dry on the line, while her husband sat and watched. I couldn't figure out why at the time, but he bugged the hell out of me. The first time I saw Ed, I knew I didn't like him.

I smiled at Carol on my way by.

"Good morning, Carol."

"Morning."

She took a good look at me.

"You didn't jump in the lake, did you?"

"I didn't exactly jump."

She put the shirt she was hanging back in the basket.

"We have to go change your wraps right now," she said.

"Is the water here that bad?"

"I don't know, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Let's go."

"Teach the bitch how to do it herself! You got chores to do," said Ed.

"It will only take a moment," Carol replied.

Ed pushed himself up off of the chair and came towards us. I could tell Carol wanted to move behind me. I had the urge to run.

He pulled Carol by the arm and whipped her frail body behind him. She almost fell over into their campfire. Afterwards, he put his face into mine. I no longer felt the need to run away.

"You'd better learn how to deal with that yourself. Then do somethin' useful, instead of going swimmin'. You should be cleaning and cooking like the rest of the whores around here."

"What the hell is your problem? Your wife is a nice lady; she doesn't deserve to be demeaned like that."

"Why don't you mind your own fuckin' business?"

"I'm pretty sure it just became my _fuckin'_business," I mocked.

I took a step towards him. I knew I wasn't in the position to be starting anything, but I also knew that if I didn't stand my ground, he'd walk all over me later on.

I could feel his breath on my face as he studied it.

By this time, the camp was starting to gather around; they all remained completely silent. It was like they'd seen this scene before.

The crowd caught Daryl and Merle's attention; they started a slow jog over.

"You'd back up if you knew what was good for you," he said.

"I'm not backing down from some pussy ass woman beater!"

The guys were really starting to rub off on me. Under normal circumstances, that sentence would have never crossed my mind.

I looked down and saw his fists clench.

"Hit me Ed, I dare you. See what happens."

He looked up at the crowd forming. His eyes locked on the brothers' gazes. They were ready for war; all they needed was for Ed to make his move. Daryl already had his hand on his knife.

Ed's facial expression started to soften. Then, he backed himself up and walked towards his wife. She looked horrified.

"Keep workin'," he said.

He went back to his chair and sat down.

I walked towards the brothers, and stopped in front of them. The three of us turned and looked towards Ed, who was still glaring at me. Daryl gave him the finger and went back to our side of the camp.

Merle stood there and stared him down a few moments longer before placing a hand on my back and leading me up to our tents.


	15. Chapter 15-Needle and Stitch

"Shhhh."

Merle held his finger to his lips as we crept between the trees. He lowered it and pointed forward to a young buck standing in the clearing ahead of us. The early morning sunlight twinkled on top of its back like it was a gift from above.

Daryl put his boot in the small of my back and pushed me forward. I slapped it away and turned my head towards him. He held a hand out towards it and mouthed the words "shoot it." I looked back towards the buck. Its black eyes surveyed the area, overlooking us peering from behind a large tree.

I took a deep breath, stepped forward and removed an arrow from the quiver on my back. As I loaded it, I saw Merle from the corner of my eye. His arms were crossed and his eyes were studying my form as if I was going to be graded on my kill. The arrow made a small noise as it snapped to the string of my re-curve. As I pulled back, I could feel the stitches on my side get tighter. My entire body shook from the pain it produced, but I held my stance in spite of it.

Just as I was getting ready to let the arrow go, I felt my side split. As the arrow flew towards the deer, I dropped to my knees and held the wound. My arrow grazed the buck's back and got lost somewhere in the brush of the forest.

"God damnit!" Daryl cursed.

He jumped over my broken down body and ran after the deer that took off into the trees.

I put my forehead into the dirt, and hid my face from Merle. I was disappointed in myself. I slowly sat up and looked at my hand. There was blood; I had popped a stitch.

"I told ya it was too early, dummy."

I shot him a look, and then looked back out towards the clearing. I wiped my hand off on my pants and darted into the woods after Daryl. Behind me, I could hear Merle coming up fast.

My side ached every time one of my feet hit the ground; I brushed it off and kept running towards the branches that Daryl had already cleared in his momentum.

This went on for a few more yards before we came across Daryl lining up his shot. I whipped another arrow out and pulled back. I felt another stitch pop from my side. I let out a yell as my arrow traveled towards the deer. It peered up in our direction just in time to be caught in the eye. It fell to the ground and its body started to twitch and quiver.

The three of us watched it kick and squirm until it finally gave up and passed. I looked back at Merle. He smiled and nodded, then put a hand on my shoulder. He didn't say a word, instead he dropped his hand and tapped his brother's shoulder as he walked towards the deer. Daryl stood up from the ground, and looked back at me. Just like his brother, he didn't say a word. He only nodded in my direction and went to his brother's side.

All of the energy I'd built up from resting all of those days, and the anger I felt towards Ed was all spent on that deer. Earlier that morning, the brothers had told me I was going to be useless if I went hunting with them. As my chest rose and fell, a smile swept across my face. I closed my eyes and breathed in the sweet morning air. For the first time in days, I felt wonderful; even with the blood trickling from my side.

I walked back to camp with the brothers in tow. They held the dead buck while I held my side. The smile that had found me in the woods was still smeared across my face. On our way back in, I walked past a group sitting around one of the fires. Andrea, one of the group members, pulled her sister back when she saw me. They thought I'd been bit. As soon as Dale saw me coming through the trees he called for Shane who immediately ran up from behind the RV and approached me.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. Split my stitches," I panted.

He looked at me quizzically. I turned and pointed behind me to the brothers who were carrying the meal for the day. The puzzled look on his face turned to joy as he saw them come through the clearing. He hurried over to them.

"You guys are alright."

Merle looked like he wanted to punch him.

"We didn't shoot it," Merle said. "Chris did."

By the time they turned to face me, I was already almost to my tent. I wanted to fix myself up and put on a clean set of clothes. I removed my shirt and bra, and lifted a small mirror I had so I could remove the old stitching. I bit my lip as I slowly removed the thick string Carol had used before. While I held my side with some gauze, I turned only to realize I didn't have enough hands to sew myself back up. I didn't dare ask Carol; I didn't want to deal with Ed. Daryl was only good at taking organs out of living creatures. I had one option left, and although I didn't want to ask, I swallowed my pride and stuck my head out of my tent.

"Merle!"

He poked his head up from the deer he and Daryl were hanging for gutting.

"What?"

"Come here."

He and his brother gave each other a look before Merle got up and headed towards my tent. When he reached the opening, I stuck a hand out and placed it on his chest.

"That's far enough."

"What the hell did you call me over for?"

I stuck my head out again.

"I can't sew myself up."

He bent over and started laughing.

"Then I'm gonna have to come in there."

That never dawned on me, as obvious as it seemed.

"Uuh okay. Hold on a second."

I turned to find a towel to wrap around my chest.

"Come in," I said.

He took a step in, and his eyes widened at the sight of me.

"Stop gawking. Nothing you've never seen before."

He looked around the tent.

"There's not enough light in here," he said. "You'll hafta come outside."

My eyes widened; I could feel my face turn bright red. That was worse than just Merle seeing my topless body.

"You shy?" He laughed.

"You sure we can't just do it in here?"

"Yeah, if you want there to be gaps."

I lowered my shoulders, and frowned. Merle placed his hands on his hips.

"I'll go out and pull Daryl's truck around. You can lie on the tailgate, and it'll block everyone's view."

"Okay," I nodded.

I still didn't want to go out there.

He stepped out of the tent. A few moments later, I heard the whine of Daryl's old truck. I could smell the exhaust as the back reached the front of my tent. After the door slammed, Merle poked his head back into the tent.

"Ready when you are."

I wrapped the towel tighter around my breasts and walked out with a first aid kit in hand. He was standing next to one of the tail lights, and patted the tailgate of the truck.

"Hop up and lay on your side."

"'Kay."

I carefully pushed myself up, and put a knee onto the rickety old truck's tailgate. Merle took the first aid kit from my hand as I lowered myself to my side. He popped it open, pulled a lighter from his pocket, and placed it behind me. I watched as he pulled some gauze from the box and placed it next to the lighter. The last thing to come out of the box was a long needle and some thick thread. My stomach dropped at the sight of it; I hated needles. I'd almost wished that I had been unconscious again.

Merle struck the lighter and held it under the needle after he'd threaded it. After he was finished "sanitizing" it, he looked down at me and saw me looking at the needle.

"You won the war, but you lost the battle."

He was still trying to prove me wrong from earlier that morning. I may have proved myself useful, but I'd injured myself more in the process. Maybe I lost after all.

He placed a hand on my head and eased it down towards the truck bed.

"Don't look."

I felt him lift one side of the towel and place one of his large hands around my hip. He pulled at the towel more, but I held tight.

"You gotta let go. I can't see what I'm doin'."

I loosened my grip, and he pulled the rest of the towel away from my body. I kept my arm in front of my exposed chest so he wouldn't see. He looked over my pale body and the open wound one more time before calling out to his brother.

"Daryl, c'mere!"

I sat up.

"Oh, come on!" I yelled.

Daryl was wiping off his bloody hands as he came around the side of the truck; he blushed at the sight of me, and put his hand in front of his face.

"What did ya need?"

"Stop bein' a prude and hold her down."

"What?!" I objected.

Merle looked down at me.

"If you move like you did while I was taking the glass out, then this isn't gonna go so well. Y' need to stay still."

Daryl hesitantly jumped inside of the truck bed and crawled towards me. His face was still beet red. He lowered his body over my shoulders, which I sort of appreciated in case his brother still tried to sneak peeks. His knee went in front of my face; blocking my view of Merle's stitching and the rest of my body.

Without warning, Merle stuck the needle through my skin. I yelped and jumped. The needle wasn't as sharp as I'd hoped.

"Ya gotta hold her better than that!"

Daryl followed his brother's orders and positioned himself in a way that didn't allow for any movement whatsoever. The next time the needle pierced through my skin, I fought hard to stay still and quiet; it was no use. Every time Merle pushed it in, my body quivered and shook against my will.

After a few minutes of weaving in and out, Merle was finally finished. Daryl pushed himself up and sat down on the back of his feet. He looked down at me, placed a hand on the side of my face, and patted a couple of times.

"You did good."

"If you say so. Look the other way."

He turned towards the cracked back window of his truck. At first, I was afraid to move my body. I covered myself up with my right arm and turned on my back. Merle was placing all of the medical supplies back into the first aid kit, and the lighter back into his pants pocket. I sat up and sat on the edge of the tailgate.

"You too," I said.

"I just saw 'em!" he teased.

"Merle, turn around before I cut you."

"You have to drop your arms to do that."

"Turn. Around."

He put up his arms and turned towards my tent. As soon as he was facing the other direction, I dropped my arms down so I could grab the towel. I placed it underneath my armpits and wrapped it around my torso once again.

"Coast is clear," I said.

Daryl jumped out of the truck bed and went back to gutting the deer. Merle turned back towards me as I was trying to look at his work.

"Should hold until you do something stupid again."

"Oh, shut up."

I started walking into my tent, but turned before I entered.

"And, thank you."

After I'd inspected Merle's handy work in my hand mirror, I got dressed and emerged from the tent. One of the brothers had moved the truck back to where it had been previously. I saw that they were still working on the deer, so I approached and asked if they needed help.

"Last time you wanted to help, I practically had to stick my ass in your face while you got stitched up. Why don't you go sit down with the rest of the girls and knit or somethin'?" Daryl said.

I scrunched my face up and looked towards his elder brother, who only shrugged.

"He's right; go sit your ass down. You've done enough today."

"Fine," I said.

I walked over to the nearest fire and sat down with my chin resting in my hand. Another one of the camp's many tenants, T-Dog walked over and joined me. As he sat down, he handed me a bottle of water. My eyes almost burst at the sight of it.

"Cool! Thanks!"

"No, thank you," he said. "I can already taste that venison."

His dark skin glistened in the sunlight as he turned back to look at my kill.

"I'm pretty happy we don't have to eat squirrel tonight," I laughed.

He nodded and smiled.

"He's back!"

We heard Dale from the top of the RV.

"Someone left?" I asked T-Dog.

"Yeah, Glenn left to go to Atlanta just after you and your…uh…brothers went hunting."

"No way!"

Everyone crowded around Glenn as he walked back into the camp. He had a backpack full of supplies. We stood in a circle and watched him pull different items out: chocolate, laundry detergent, various tools, and bandages. Dale took the bag from him and left to place it into the camper. After the commotion was over, I turned and started to walk away from the circle.

"Wait! Chris," Glenn called after me.

I turned my head to look at him.

"I got something I thought you might like."

"Oh?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bar of soap still in the box and a few sample bottles of shampoo.

"Glenn, thank you!"

That was probably one of the greatest gifts I'd ever received. I reached out and threw my arms around his neck. I felt him look over towards Daryl and Merle as he patted my back.

When I pulled back I held his shoulders with my hands, and looked over with him. There was Merle, pretending to remove dirt from under his nails with his knife and whistling. I had a feeling he wasn't doing that the entire time.

"Don't mind him," I said to Glenn.

"He scares me."

"Well, he's scary sometimes."

"At least he likes you."

He handed me the toiletries and went to the RV with Dale. I looked down into my hands and smiled at the little treasures he'd handed me.


	16. Chapter 16-Collide

The venison sizzled as I carefully placed each slice inside of the frying pan over the fire. Everyone eagerly awaited their meal around the fire as Daryl and Merle cut more from the deer carcass hanging from a nearby tree. They piled it onto a plate next to a plate next to me until it couldn't hold anymore.

"That should do for now, guys," I said to the brothers.

Each person got a plate of freshly cooked meat, and each person had a smile from ear to ear. They had probably been eating squirrel as well. Daryl walked up for his while wiping his hands off on a red rag. I handed him a plate as soon as he approached me.

"Your brother coming?"

He shoveled a huge portion in his mouth.

"Mmmph...yeah. He's just finishing up."

"Oh, then I'm going to start."

Daryl nodded and took a seat around the fire. I followed shortly after I'd picked up my plate. I left another one on a table near the fire, covered up and ready for Merle.

The first bite of the venison made me want to dance. It tasted so much better than the canned meats and rodent we had been feasting on earlier that week. I looked over at Daryl; he smiled as he chewed and sighed heavily. The rest of the survivors around the campfire looked the same, as if our eating habits were being choreographed.

Merle finally came up for his meal. Instead of taking his plate, he sat next to me.

"How's it taste?"

"Amazing," I replied as I held up a piece to him.

Instead of taking it with his hand, he opened his mouth. I lowered my hand, and peered up at him from under my eyebrows.

"You can feed yourself, Merle."

"No I can't, my hands are all dirty."

"For Christ's sake!"

As quickly as I could, I shot my hand up and popped the warm deer meat into his mouth.

"That is pretty good. But next time, do it without the attitude."

He put his hand in my hair and tossed it around as he stood up and grabbed for his plate. I reached up and slapped his hand away.

"Why would you put your gross, bloody hands in my hair?"

He held his hand up.

"'Cause I washed them before I came over here."

I rolled my eyes at him and continued eating. He popped another piece of the deer into his mouth while he and his brother laughed.

"C'mon, little brother," he said to Daryl. "Let's go get rid of the rest of that deer before the freaks find it."

Daryl licked his fingers and went back to the hanging carcass with his brother. I shook my head while I watched them walk away.

"He sure does go the distance to get your attention," said Andrea.

"I know," I said.

"Are you going to give in to him?"

I set my plate down next to me.

"I'm hesitant to."

"He _is _a little old for you."

"Y'know, normally I would agree, but at the end of the world, I just don't give a shit."

"So you _are_ entertaining the idea?"

I put down my plate next to me, and wiped my hands off on my jeans. Instead of responding to her question, I stood up and changed the subject.

"I think I'm going to go have a bath before bed."

"Uuh, okay. Just, be careful, I guess."

I left to go retrieve the shampoo and soap that Glenn had grabbed for me from his run into Atlanta. On my way down to the lake, I walked past the fire we had been sitting around.

"You want me to send someone down to keep watch?" asked Shane.

"I should be fine."

I lifted up my pistol from under my towel.

"I'm bringing this just in case."

He nodded and fixed the hat on top of his head.

"Alright, but if you take too long, Lori'll come down and check."

"Fine by me."

I turned around and continued my walk down the winding path to the lake. I looked up to see that the sun was touching the top of the trees. I figured I would have at least forty-five minutes before it got completely dark, which was plenty of time for me.

I stood in front of the lake and placed my belongings on the rock that Merle and I had sat on the day before. I unbuttoned the front of my shirt and placed it next to everything else. Before I removed my pants, I turned and looked around the perimeter of the lake to make sure no one was peeking. When I was satisfied that no one was there, I unzipped my pants and pulled them down around my ankles.

I took the shampoo and soap in my hands before walking into the lake. When it was deep enough, I dipped my head under to wet my hair. I received that same wonderful sensation from before. After I was sure my hair was completely wet, I came up for air and started to work the shampoo into it. Life seemed pretty good at that moment.

I ducked myself down and rinsed a couple more times. As soon as I was satisfied that I was clean enough, I looked around the lake again to double check for peeping Toms before walking to the shore. The night air was beginning to chill; my skin perked up with goose bumps. I quickly wrapped a towel around my frame, and put my shoes back on.

Since the sky was nearly completely dark, I figured it wouldn't hurt to walk into camp with just my towel on. There wasn't much that anyone in the camp could see, even if they did notice me walk by.

I had the rest of my belongings piled up in my arms. I tried carefully not to drop anything I was holding, which proved to be more difficult than I thought. It also slowed down my journey back up the winding road to the camp.

I ended up dropping my shirt onto the ground.

"Uggh!"

I carefully balanced the rest of my things in my arms while I bent down to pick up my shirt, which ended in me dropping the rest of my things. I threw my head back and sighed heavily. As I bent down to pick the rest of it up, I noticed some faint footsteps coming my way.

_"It's just Lori,"_I thought to myself.

I continued to fold my gun and shampoo into my clothes. As the footsteps came closer, I stopped to listen to them. They didn't seem normal; they didn't have a rhythm, and seemed to trip over each other. I turned to look. It wasn't Lori, it was a walker.

I calmly shuffled through my clothing again to locate my gun. When I found it, I took the safety off, and aimed it towards the undead creature. Instead of a loud bang, I only heard a click. I turned the gun over and looked at the bottom where the magazine should be. The magazine was not there. I'd forgotten to load my gun when I left camp!

The calm I'd felt before was completely gone at this point. I turned over and crawled to the rest of my things. The walker got to its hands and knees as well. It grabbed at my ankles while I kicked and yelled for someone to help. It crawled up into my face; I wrapped my shirt around its face and punched it in the nose. My legs came up and kicked it in the chest. It fell back and cracked its head on the ground.

That didn't stop it. It screeched as it got back up for another chance to bite me. My knees scraped against the gravel in the road as I stood up. The geek wrapped a hand around my ankle and I went back down to the gravel. I gave it two more kicks in the head as I yelled for help again. No one was coming for me. I picked my gun up from the ground to beat its hands away from my legs. After its greasy hands broke away from my ankles, I unwrapped the towel from my body and placed it over its head. I brought down the gun on its head numerous times before it finally lowered its hands and died.

I sat in the dirt, naked and covered in the walker's blood. So much for trying to be hygienic. At least my hair was still somewhat clean.

I'd started to stand until I heard a group running my way. I pulled my knees up to my chest and waited for them to approach me. I looked to see if I could still cover myself with the towel. It was covered in walker blood; I would never use it again.

The group finally reached me moments later and stopped as soon as they saw my naked form sitting in the gravel.

I turned my head to see Shane, Glenn, Daryl, and Merle standing there with weapons at the ready.

Merle turned to Glenn.

"Cover yer damn eyes."

I was curious as to why he didn't tell Shane or his brother to do the same, but I figured it was just because he liked making Glenn miserable. Glenn moved faster than I'd ever seen any one move, and turned away to cover his face.

Shane approached me from behind.

"Y'all right?"

"I think so," I whispered.

He bent down and uncovered the walker. Its head was completely smashed in from the butt of my gun.

"Why didn't you shoot it?"

I didn't answer right away because I was so embarrassed of the answer. I rested my forehead on my knees.

"I forgot to load it."

I sensed him holding back his laughter.

""Sall right. As long as you're okay."

"I'm fiiiine!"

_"I'm an idiot!"_

He held up his hands and step back a bit.

"I'm not arguin', just askin'."

Merle came forward and pushed Shane back a bit more, then bent down to the ground to talk to me.

"No bites?"

"No bites."

He bit his lip and looked over at the walker. His eyes studied its crushed in skull for a moment before coming back to me.

"Alright," he nodded.

He removed the leather vest he was wearing and covered my front with it. Then, he bent down and picked me up from the dirt.

"Pick up this stuff," he said to his brother.

Daryl nodded and bent down to pick up my things.

As we made our trip up the road, I heard Shane mention something about burning the walker's body.

At the top, we were met by Lori, who immediately turned and covered Carl's eyes as soon as she saw us.

"Carl, go into the tent. Don't come out till I say."

He ran off and did what he was told.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Nothin' you need to worry about," Merle replied.

She stood there dumbfounded as we walked past.

The rest of the camp quickly dropped their heads as soon as Merle came through the clearing with me. I was just as embarrassed as they were.

He put me down just in front of my tent. I kept the vest in front of me and walked inside backwards.

"You scared I might see your pasty white ass?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I couldn't even manage a "thank you". I only shook my beat red face and backed my way into the tent's opening. While I zipped it back up, I removed Merle's vest and handed it back to him through a small portion that I'd left opened.

"You don't need to be embarrassed, you know. You're not exactly hard on the eyes."

"Merle, please. Be quiet."

That wasn't the only reason I was embarrassed. I went out unarmed; I was careless and left without loading my weapon.

"Let me know when you're done. We gotta talk."

My head shot up.

"'Bout what?"

"You."

"Umm…okay."

I took my time getting dressed, and wrapping my wet hair in a dirty towel. I didn't want to have that talk. As I sat down to put on my socks and boots, I gave him the go ahead. He walked in, grabbed a chair, and sat down in it backwards. He didn't say a word, which worried me more.

"Go ahead," I said.

"Alright," he nodded slowly. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be goin' anywhere without Daryl or I anymore."

"Bu-"

He interrupted and put his hand up.

"You let me finish! Every time you wander off, you get yourself into somethin'. If you had told us you were leavin' tonight, you wouldn't have had to beat that walker to death. And did I _hear_ correctly? You left without loading your gun? How stupid could you get?!"

I stood up so fast it made me dizzy.

"Don't you _dare_ call me stupid!"

"Why the hell not? You haven't done much to prove me wrong!"

I stood in front of the chair and put my finger in his face.

"I saved your brother from drowning asshole!"

"Alright, I'll give you that one. But that's not all, if you would have waited for Daryl instead of running off after that little bastard out there, you wouldn't be stitched up!"

"Daryl couldn't have come with if he wanted to, and if I recall correctly, that was his own fault for coming into my tent while I was sleeping!"

"No, it's _your_ fault for overreacting and punching him. That's what this all boils down to: you always have to overreact in situations that don't call for it. I'd sa-"

_SMACK!_

"Shut up!"

He held his head to the side to the moment before smiling and bringing up a hand to rub the side of his face.

My palm stung from making contact with his cheek.

Calmly, he stood and pulled the chair out from between his legs and threw it aside. Then he proceeded towards me.

To this day, I still think they should make back doors to tents. At that moment, that's all I could think about: a way out of the tent.

Every step he took, I mimicked with one to the back of the tent. It wasn't long before my back touched the back wall. I thought of trying to run around him, but no matter how many times I played it out in my head, I didn't see it working.

I'd never really been afraid of Merle Dixon, but this time, I definitely was.

When he reached my trembling body, he put an arm on either side of my head and rested his hands on the back of the tent to keep me from going anywhere. He stared me down for what seemed like an eternity. I finally understood why Daryl never disobeyed him. He was a _very_ intimidating man.

I could almost hear the gears turning in his head while he was trying to decide what to do with me. When he finally decided, I knew: that terrible grin he wore when he was up to no good spread across his face again.

He picked up a hand from the back of the tent and squished my face together with it.

"Now, I'm gonna tell you somethin', and you're gonna listen. Very. Fuckin'. Close. Understand?"

I nodded quickly.

He pushed my head down to my mattress, and pulled one of my arms behind me. I started to yell and struggle.

"There ain't no need for that. I'm not gonna stop even if that asshole Shane busts in here. Not until I'm sure you comprehend what I'm gonna tell you. Got it?"

I nodded faster this time.

"You don't do anything, and I mean _anything_ without telling me or Daryl. If you do, I will personally tie you up, put you on the back of my bike, and drive you out to the middle of nowhere to leave you for dead. You got that?"

I nodded again.

"Don't just bob your head. I wanna hear it! Tell me, do you understand?"

"Yes!"

He let go of my arm, and I turned on my side to rub it. He stayed in place with one boot on top of my bed and held down a hand to help me up. I spit in it and booked it out of the tent.

On my way out, I ran into Daryl, who was just outside the door; who had heard everything that had happened. Behind me, Merle came out of the tent as well and wiped his hand on the back of my shirt as he passed by. Daryl saw the daggers in my eyes as I watched Merle walk away.

"He's only doing it cause he cares about you."

"Yeah, well, he's got a funny fuckin' way of showing it."

I wiped the hot tears from my face and took my things from Daryl. I went into my tent, and didn't show my face for the rest of the evening.

* * *

The next day was horrible. Daryl acknowledged me, but his brother refused. Instead, he threw things instead of giving them to me. He knocked books and other utensils out of my hands while I was using them. It got old, and very fast.

After I'd gotten fed up with his attitude, I picked up my bow and started to head off into the woods. When I reached the edge of the trees, I turned to notice he was following me.

"Go away!" I yelled.

He picked up some rope and dangled it above his head, while making a motion like he was revving his motorcycle.

I stormed back into my tent and threw down my bow and arrows; the rest of my afternoon was spent in a frustrated silence. I didn't come out again until that evening when it was time to eat. Instead of sitting around the fire with the brothers, I went across camp and sat with Glenn, T-Dog, Andrea, Amy, Shane, Lori and Carl. They could tell I was fuming.

"Hey," said Glenn.

"Yeah?"

He handed something up towards me that I couldn't make out at first. When I took it from his hand, I felt that it was a glass bottle.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Whiskey. Figured you could use it right now."

"Oh, God, yes."

"Hey!" Exclaimed T-Dog. "Careful with that, booze makes chicks to crazy things."

I quickly popped the top off of the bottle and threw it back. The liquid warmed my insides, and made my senses tingle.

"Thank you, so much."

"Don't mention it. Is everything alright?" He said as he pointed towards the brothers sitting around their fire.

I looked over as he pointed and saw that they were staring back.

"It's fine," I said.

I continued the rest of the meal in silence, and stumbled back to my tent with the whiskey bottle in my hand when I was finished. I saw Daryl around the fire, and only Daryl. I decided it would be safe to sit until his brother returned. He looked up at me as I plopped down on one of the logs around the fire.

"What is that?" He asked.

I poured more into my mouth and held it there. I held the bottle towards him, label out and let some of the booze squirt out of my mouth towards him.

"You should let me have that."

I pulled the bottle back and protested as I struggled to find my balance to stand up.

"No, Daryl. This is mine. Get your own."

"I don't wanna drink it, moron. I just think you've had plenty."

"No! You're gonna take it and you and your *burp* drunk brother are gonna drink it all. Not this time, buddy."

I turned to get away as Daryl lunged towards me for the bottle. I tripped over my feet to quickly leave the area. He ended up tripping over the log and falling face first into the dirt. I held the bottle up in victory, as he pushed himself off of the ground.

I felt the bottle leave my grasp. Someone behind me had taken it. I turned to get it back, only to see Merle holding it just out of my reach.

"You give me that bottle, Merle!"

He held me back with one arm as he emptied the bottle and threw it behind him.

"You're a jerk!" I slurred as I pushed on his chest.

He bent down and threw me over his shoulder.

"Put me down!"

His hand came up and slapped my thigh.

"Quiet," he said.

A moment later, I saw the inside of my tent. Merle dropped me down on my mattress, and came down to me. He pinned my arms at my side as I struggled to get back up.

He bent down more, and got into my face. Before I knew what he was up to, his lips were on mine. I stopped struggling and allowed him to continue.

Booze makes chicks do crazy things.


	17. Chapter 17-Slow Down

The next morning, I was woken by the wail of Daryl's truck trying to revive itself. I sat up and stretched my arms out forwards; seeing if I could reach my toes without my side causing discomfort. I was almost there before it got painful and sent me back. I was sure it wouldn't be long before I was functioning normally again.

As I moved one of my legs so I could maneuver myself out of bed, my foot touched something on the other side.

_"I hope that's not what I think it is."_

I completely removed the covers from myself, and sighed with relief to see that I still had clothes on. Then, I reached over to the lump on the other side and carefully lifted it up. The lump was Merle; sprawled out and drooling on one of my pillows. I dropped the blanket and blew the hair out of my face.

I turned back over and scooted myself out of bed. I quietly tiptoed to the opening and unzipped it little by little. As soon as there was enough room for me to squeeze out, I stuck my leg out and leapt outside. After I carefully zipped it back up, I turned to see Daryl coming back up the clearing in his truck. I stood and waited for him to get out.

The door to the old vehicle creaked as Daryl's boot emerged from underneath. Before approaching, he turned and spit on the ground.

"Where's my brother?"

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and tilted my head back towards the tent.

"Oooohhh ho! No! You didn't!" He held his stomach as he laughed.

"No…I don't know. Just shut up! You'll wake him up."

"How do you not know?"

"I just…don't. Can we go into the woods or something? I don't want to be around when he wakes up."

"Why you askin' me? You're a big girl, go by yourself."

"Your brother said I couldn't go anywhere without either you or him accompanying me."

"I ain't nobody's babysitter. You have my permission, get outta here."

I wrung my hands together and stared at the ground.

"You serious?"

I didn't look back up at him.

"Fine. I'll go with you," he said, annoyed.

I looked back up and smiled at him.

"'Kay. Let's get out of here," I said.

He picked his crossbow up out of the back of his truck and led me into the edge of the woods.

"You're not takin' your bow?"

"I don't want to go back in that tent right now."

He gave me one of his looks, and then went into my tent. I heard him shuffle around a bit before coming out with my bow and a couple of arrows in his hand.

"Chicken shit. If ya can't face him afterwards, then tell him no."

"But I…Ugh…Never mind."

The sunlight twinkled through the trees as we walked. Daryl picked off squirrels that were scurrying across the forest floor with his crossbow. I didn't lift my bow for fear of a repeat of our previous hunting trip. Daryl moved ahead of me while I trailed behind and stared at the ground. Every once in a while, he would stare back at me, and I would pick up my pace.

"So do you wanna…I don't know, talk about it?" Daryl asked, breaking the silence.

"About what?"

"You know, my brother? I thought you chicks liked to talk about that kinda crap."

"I appreciate the incentive Daryl, but this one is a bit personal. I'd rather just talk to your brother about it."

"Didn't seem like you were lookin' to talk to him about it."

I stopped walking and looked up at him. After he'd stepped a few feet further, he realized I'd stopped and turned back towards me.

"It just wasn't a good time. I'll talk to him a little later today."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged.

He tuned and pierced another squirrel through its back. Before he bent down to pick it up, he turned back to me.

"Just don't hurt him. If you do, you and I won't be right."

It never really dawned on me until then that Merle could feel pain like the rest of us. In my mind's eye, I had always perceived him as invincible; with nerves of steel.

"I have no intention to."

Daryl continued to pull the arrow from the squirrel, wipe it off, and load his crossbow with it once again. The furry vermin was tied to a collection of them he had tied across his chest and around his shoulders.

"You ready to go back yet?"

I looked up at the sunlight pouring through the trees.

"I suppose so."

When I turned to head back to camp, Daryl hurried in front of me and took his place. I tried as best I could to drag my ass back to delay the inevitable. However, he didn't want to be out any longer than he had to be, so I hurried along behind him.

Upon our arrival back to camp, we saw that everyone was up and walking around. Before I could take a step inside, I took a deep breath and decided to take what was coming to me. I quivered and shook with every movement towards our small area in the back of the camp. I stood next to Daryl's truck and stared at the front of my tent before I gathered the courage to walk inside. Gingerly, I walked up and unzipped it. Merle wasn't inside the tent; instead there was a bottle on my pillow with a note attached to it. My fingers trembled as I unzipped the opening the whole way down. I set my bow and arrows aside, and went to the air mattress to investigate.

The bottle had a brown liquid inside, no doubt it was whiskey; especially since it came from Merle. I pulled at the twine that held the note to the bottle and tossed it to the floor. The note was written on a page torn from a book; I unfolded it carefully so it didn't tear.

It read: _Right now, I know you're staring at this letter with that stupid look on your face, wondering where I am and what happened last night. Funny thing is, I woke up this morning and saw that you left. And now I'm wondering where you ran off to with my brother. Maybe when you're ready to show your face, you and I can have a drink, and talk about how I rocked your world last night. Maybe do it again sometime? Sad, but true darlin' you're with me now. You finally came around last night. I'll leave you with that until I get back. -Merle_

_P.S. _

_We didn't bump uglies last night. I just like fucking with ya._

I put the letter down and stared at the tent wall for a moment. I felt that same combination of defeat and success I usually felt when Merle was around.

_"What did I agree to last night?"_

I thought that after my freshman year of college, I was done with the day after dramas of being drunk. Apparently not. I was certainly confused about what Merle was expecting from me, and what I'd told him the evening before; that made me more nervous about him coming back from wherever he went.

"You lucked out," Daryl said from the opening of the tent. "Merle's gone out."

"I see that."

"Whatcha got there?"

I pulled the bottle and the note in closer.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit," he laughed.

He hopped into the tent and loomed over me as I tried to hide the note that his brother left.

"Lemme see!"

"No, get outta here!"

I jumped into the bed and attempted to pull the note out of my hands. As I turned to leave the tent, he grabbed at my ankle so I'd trip to the floor. I hid the note behind my back.

"You better show me what you got there"

"No, Daryl, it's none of your business."

"Alright, you asked for it."

He leaned over me and made a gargling noise in his throat. His lips pushed together and forced out a long string of spit.

"Oh my god! That's gross!"

He sucked it back up into his mouth.

"You'd better show me what you got before it touches you."

He started again.

"Fine, nosey!"

I pulled out the note from behind me and threw it at him. He smiled and sat back as he read it. I examined my shirt to make sure it was free of spit.

"I can tell you've never had a lady in your life," I said.

Daryl held up his middle finger as he continued to read the note his brother left for me.

"So you guys are a thing?"

"No, we're not."

He held up the note.

"He seems to think so."

"I'll take care of it."

He stood up and set the letter down on the bed. Before leaving the tent, he stopped and turned towards me.

"Take care of it, but don't fuck with him."

After he left, I sat back down on my bed and stared at the letter. I had a feeling that that evening was going to be hellish. I felt trapped. If I didn't accept Merle, I would lose the brothers. On the other hand, if I did accept him and he died, I'd be more stuck than I was at that moment. And to me, Merle's death, even Daryl's death by walker was inevitable. It was only a matter of time before it happened. It had crossed my mind that I may die before them, but since they'd stuck their necks out for me so many times before hand, who's to say they wouldn't die for me?

I cradled my head in my hands and shook it.

_"What the hell am I supposed to do?"_

Then I came to a realization: I could leave the camp, and not come back. I wouldn't have to decide between our friendship and a romance I wasn't ready for. But how was I supposed to leave? Either the brothers or whoever was on watch that day would surely find me and it was too big of a gamble to leave at night.

_"Even if I did manage to get out of here, they would track me down."_

It seemed that the negatives outweighed the positives, and I was back at square one. It had crossed my mind to attempt something to get kicked out of the camp, but I was positive that the brothers would follow wherever I went.

I sighed and stood up to go outside. I lingered in the opening to my tent, watching the camp bustle about with their daily routine. Off to the side, I could see Lori and Carol sitting around a table with their children doing schoolwork. Shane sat on top of the RV and looked out into the quarry for anything suspicious. Andrea and her sister sat around the fire and prepared a meal for the camp.

Everyone seemed to be busy except for me. I approached the sisters around the fire.

"Need a hand?" I asked.

"Sure!" said Amy.

She handed me a bucket of mystery berries and a bucket of water.

"Just make sure they're clean."

"Are these alright to eat?" I said while examining the fruit.

"Dale ate one and identified them," Andrea said.

I looked over at Dale. He waved from his seat at the next fire over from ours.

"Good enough for me."

I bent over and started washing the berries in the water that Amy provided for me. I wished that we had more deer left over from the other day, but we were back to eating squirrels and random fruits we found in random bushes. But, it was much better than starving to death…or becoming a walker for that matter.

After I was done cleaning the berries, I excused myself to go down to the lake to wash myself up.

"Woah! You hold up now, y' hear!"

I turned to see Shane coming down from the top of the RV.

"What is it?" I asked.

He walked up and scratched his nose.

"Merle said he didn't want you goin' nowhere without anyone accompanying."

I looked behind me, and up the road behind Shane.

"I don't see him anywhere."

He put his hands on his hips and nodded.

"Yeah, y' know, I see that, but regardless, I need to honor his wishes."

I laughed.

"Why would you take orders from him? He hates you."

"Let's just say I'm makin' things right between us."

I suppose I was thankful that they were coming to an understanding; it definitely made things work a lot smoother in the camp.

"That so? Well, then send someone with me."

He turned and whistled back towards the brother's tents.

"Hey, Daryl!"

We watched for a moment while we waited for Daryl to show himself. He finally emerged from the side of his truck.

"What?!" he yelled.

"Chris needs someone to go with her down to the lake. Since you're a part her "family", you can go with."

Daryl glared at him for a moment then held up his index finger, telling us to hold on. He disappeared behind his truck again, and emerged with a gun in his hand. Daryl approached at a quick pace to where we were standing. When he finally arrived to us, he stood for a moment. Then, he cocked the gun and held it out to me.

"It's loaded."

I smiled and took the gun from him.

"Go ahead, go down there," said Daryl.

Shane held out an arm in front of me.

"Hold up."

Daryl smacked his arm out of the way.

"She's a woman. Doesn't mean she's stupid. Get out of her way."

Shane backed up.

Before I headed down the hill, I took one more glance at Daryl. He squinted at me above the large bags under his eyes.

"I'll be back in a little while," I said. "No big deal."

I looked back towards the lake and started my walk. When I arrived to the lakeside, I stuffed the gun down the back of my pants and crouched down towards the water. I stuck my hands in and rubbed them together to remove the berry juices stuck to my skin.

I scooped more of the water up and splashed it on my face. As I wiped the remaining water from my forehead, I heard the familiar sound of a motorcycle roaring down the road towards the campsite.


	18. Chapter 18-Hummingbird

Like some of you asked for, here's the next chapter...sort of right away hehe.

Thank you for giving Cherish a chance and sticking with the story this long...If you've made it this far, it means a lot to me.

I love reading your guys' reviews while I'm slaving away on physics homework. It definitely makes my day.

This chapter was partially inspired by the acoustic version of Spider and the Fly by London After Midnight. It's such a lovely song =)

Well, I'm off to plan my trip to San Diego Comic Con (first vacation in three years. FIIINAAAALLLY). So without further interruption, I bring you Chapter Eighteen.

* * *

I let the rest of the water drip off of my face as I waited for Merle to reach the bottom of the road next to the lake. I was thinking about hiding behind a rock, or in the water, but if he'd seen me from the top of the road, I would have just looked really stupid.

I stepped towards the edge of the road and crossed my arms. I waited patiently for him to come down the long winding road. The motorcycle's roar got closer, but started to fade out as soon as he saw me. Merle gave it one last rev and slowed the bike till he stopped right in front of me. He didn't look pleased.

He twisted the key in the ignition and threw a leg over to dismount the bike. He walked past me towards the beach of the lake.

"Merle, what are you doing?"  
He looked behind the rocks and over the area of the lake. When he turned back around, he stuck his hands in his pockets and kicked at the dirt on the ground as he made his way back to me.

"Funny. Coulda sworn I said not to go out by yourself anymore."

I pulled the gun out from the back of my pants and held it up for him to see.

"That Daryl's?"

"Yes. He gave it to me. _He _said I could go."

Merle crossed his arms and nodded.

"It's not what Daryl says, it's what _I _say."

"Whatever," I sighed. "I'm not going to argue with you."

I turned to walk back up the road to the campsite. He walked up fast and grabbed at my wrist.

"Hold on now, you knew what the consequences were. Get on the back of the bike."

I looked at him from under my eyebrows.

"Yeah, right."

I took my wrist back and continued my walk. He walked around in front of me and blocked my path as he pointed at the bike.

"Get on the back of the bike before I break your legs and put you on myself."

"Fine!"

I stood next to the bike and waited for him to start it. Once again, he leveled it so I could get on easily. I threw a leg over and grabbed at the back of his vest. Before we left, I saw Daryl at the campsite looking down at us with his arms thrown in the air. We were up the long winding road to the quarry before I could blink.

The ride wasn't as nearly as enjoyable as last time. I felt the wind blowing through my hair, the smell of the exhaust, and the sun on my back, but I still had trouble enjoying the moment.

After a while, I'd noticed that we had been travelling for quite some time. We passed through a small town with various shops and an old gas station with walkers stumbling around it.

"Where are we going?!" I tried to yell over the motorcycle's engine.

Merle shook his head, but didn't say anything.

We continued down the road for what seemed like hours, but that could have just been because I was starting to get bored. I wasn't worried about Merle leaving me in the middle of nowhere. If he was, I was glad I had Daryl's gun.

After we turned another large corner, the bike started to slow down. We stopped in front of a small path leading into the woods. I got off of the bike and stood on the hot pavement on the side of the road. Merle got off and removed the keys from the bike's ignition.

Off in the distance, I heard water rushing.

I looked up at Merle, who held his arm out to lead the way into the path. I pulled the gun out of my pants and started my way down the path. There were a lot of small animals running in front of us and behind us. Daryl would have had the time of his life. Above our heads, hummingbirds darted from tree to tree.

We reached an ending in the path blocked by the leaves of a willow tree hanging in front of us. The rushing water I'd heard at the roadside was much louder now. Merle stepped around me and pulled the leaves back.

My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw what was inside. There was a large waterfall surrounded by a plethora of bright yellow flowers. There was a path leading between the flowers and up to the small pond made by the waterfall.

I walked past Merle and up the middle of the pond. I was speechless. It had been a long time since I'd seen anything so beautiful. I crouched on the side of the path to examine the flowers as Merle came up behind me. I picked one of the flowers and held it between my fingers.

"Oenothera biennis!"

Merle pulled back his head.

"What?"

"Oh, um. Evening primrose. It's the name of the flower."

He crouched down next to me.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"I am, or was I should say, a biology major."

I put the yellow flower up to my nose and inhaled its bitter aroma. Merle took it from me and put it in my hair. I looked back at him from over my shoulder and looked in his eyes for a moment. They weren't squinting as they normally were; the bags under his eyes softened as he studied my face.

"Merle, why did you really bring me out here?"

He looked down at the patch of flowers in front of us.

"You know why. We need to talk about what happened last night."

I nodded and stared down at the primroses with him.

"What _did _happen last night?"

"Not a whole hell of a lot," he laughed.

"Well, I remember you kissing me. That's pretty much it."

"Then you don't remember the conversation we had?"

"No."

He put his head down and stared at the dirt between his arms as he rested them on his knees.

"Shit. Now I gotta get you drunk again."

"Oh hush, what was the conversation?"

Then, I saw a sight I never dreamed I would see in a million years: Merle's face turned hot and red.

"Well, uhh," he scratched at the back of his head.

I cocked my head to the side as I awaited an answer.

"I um…I asked if you cared about Daryl and I."

"I assume I said yes?"

"Yeah, but that's not all. I'm not sure if it was the booze or if you were telling the truth, but you said that you loved me."

I stood up and looked down at him. I didn't know what to say. Drunken people always tell people that they love them. Or at least in my experiences they did. The cat had my tongue; I had no idea what to say or to do. I wasn't sure if it was because of what I supposedly said, or because I was seeing a completely different side of Merle. Looking back, I feel like it was a combination of both.

"Was that true?" He asked.

I was still searching for the right words to say. I couldn't disappoint him or Daryl.

"Yes, Merle. It's true."

He smiled and started to stand. He came closer and put his hands on the backs of my elbows. I put my hand up as he leaned in closer.

"But," I started.

He backed up.

"I need to be honest with you; I'm terrified of loving you. You and your brother are two of the strongest people I've ever met. But neither of you are safe from this world, or from the geeks. Sooner or later, one of the three of us is _going_ to die. We've all lost everyone we've ever loved, and everything we had ever worked for. I feel that you've worked hard to keep me around, and to keep me safe. Meanwhile, I've worked hard to keep you at bay; I've worked hard to show you nothing but contempt. It's not because I don't enjoy being around you, and it's not because I don't love you, it's because I'm selfish. I feel that if we pursue a relationship, it works out, and you die…well…that would be the end of me."

He removed his hands from my arms.

"So, you're going to spend the rest of _my _life denying me? So you can keep toying with me?"

"No, Merle. I'm not toying with you. I'm just…"

I stopped and stared back at the flower patch before continuing.

"Scared."

I lifted my head back up at looked at his face. He looked betrayed and angry.

"That's your problem. You're a scared little girl, always running from your problems and blamin' someone else."

"You know, you can make an argument without insulting someone. It's not like I'm not willing to hear what you have to say about it."

He kicked at the dirt and nodded.

"You wanna know how I see it? You're right, I may die tomorrow, but so could you. Y' think I never think about you gettin' eaten and turning into wonna them? Why do you think I go to all of the god damn trouble to keep you safe?"

He stepped closer and grasped my shoulders.

"I don't try to control you 'cause it gets me off. I control you so you stay alive longer…for me."

His raspy voice became stronger.

"You don't know how long we got to live. Neither do I. But the way I see it, when we die we can say we took chances and lived the best we fuckin' could. Or, we can deny what's right in front of us because we were afraid it would make us cry."

Tears were starting to pool in my eyes.

"Why you gotta cry?" He asked.

I smiled.

"I just didn't think that you'd ever be capable of saying something so beautiful," I laughed through my tears.

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. The smell of the motorcycle exhaust that clung to his clothes was intoxicating.

"You're such a bitch sometimes," he said.

"And you're the biggest asshole I've ever met."

I looked up and kissed him as hummingbirds buzzed around our heads, and sucked nectar from the primroses.

* * *

On our ride back to camp, we once again passed through the small town with the walker infested gas station in the middle. As we rode by, I noticed a tall dark geek in a jumpsuit lifting one of the gas pumps and saturating the area with the liquid. It was a shame that there were so many there, and the gas was going to waste. We sure could have used it.

We passed the golden grass fields that I was so infinitely memorized by. I promised myself that if we ever saw a world without walkers, I would come back and run through them naked. At this point, I had an entire list of things I wanted to do if I survived the apocalypse, and each item on the list was just as strange as the last.

The motorcycle revved one last time before Merle parked it underneath a tree near his younger brother's truck. When I got off the vehicle, I playfully stuck my tongue out at Merle. He shook his fist in return.

Daryl left the side of the campfire to greet us. I pulled the gun out and handed it to him.

"Where did you guys go?"

I looked back at Merle before turning back to Daryl and answering.

"To hell and back," I said thoughtfully.

He squinted his eyes and lifted one eyebrow, then turned to his brother for answers as I walked away.

"What did she mean by that?" Daryl asked.

"Nothin', but if you let her go out by herself again, I'll string your ass upside down in a tree."


	19. Chapter 19-Cross Me Twice

The hot mid-afternoon sun beating down on my face made me wish I was down with the rest of the women doing laundry at the lake. Instead of washing clothes in the cool water, I sat on top of the RV with Dale's rifle. I was on watch duty that day. Anyone that knew how to use a gun was volunteered to sit on top of the stifling hot mobile home for one day at a time. Since the brothers had already taken their turns, it was my turn to earn a farmer's tan.

Every once in a while, I would get up from the folding chair placed on top to pace back and forth; pulling up the binoculars to my eyes with every small movement I saw from afar. Every step I took made the roof squeak and creak. Although I knew it was pretty much impossible, I feared that I would fall through. If it weren't for my legs falling asleep occasionally throughout the day, I would have stayed in the chair the entire twelve hours I was up there.

Below, I saw the ladies at the lake with Ed looming behind him. I would have never wished the curse of the walkers on anyone, but in Ed Peleteir's case, I'd certainly make an exception. The binoculars enveloped around my eyes as I glared down at him. He stood there with his arms crossed as he sat on the back of his family's vehicle, and "supervised" the women's work.

"See something interesting?" A voice behind me said.

I turned to see Dale coming up the ladder.

"Nope. Just a huge gaping asshole. Nothing out of the ordinary."

He walked over to my side and took the binoculars out of my hand to see what I was looking at.

"Ooo yeah. Couldn't have said it better myself. Don't worry, he'll get what's coming to him one day."

"I hope so."

He smiled.

"Oh, I brought this up for you."

He lifted up a canteen of water.

"Oh thank God."

I quickly twisted the top off of the canteen and chugged the water from the container. It wasn't very cold, but it was better than nothing. I finished it half way before capping it back up.

"Thanks."

He nodded, then headed back down the ladder.

I sat back down in the folding chair and readjusted my hat to keep the sun out of my eyes. Next to the camper, I heard something moving in the bushes. I picked the rifle up from under the chair, and scooted towards the edge of the roof. I sat and waited for whatever was in the bushes to show itself. At the top of the bush, out popped the top of Daryl's crossbow, and the brothers soon after carrying the carcass of some type of dead animal.

I lowered the gun when they saw me, and threw the canteen towards them. Daryl caught it and immediately unscrewed the top so he could have a drink. He passed it to his brother afterwards.

As Merle drank, I looked down at the animal they'd killed.

"What exactly did you guys shoot?" I asked as I tilted my head to the side; trying to get a better look at the dead thing.

Merle held up the dead animal by the tail and held it at eye level.

"Beaver? Badger maybe? I don't know, you're the bio master, not me."

I laid on my stomach and rested my chin on my arms.

"And the award to biggest redneck in the quarry goes to…"

At the same time, they looked towards me; they each had the same look on their faces.

"Welp, better get guttin'!" I said, then turned back over to sit and watch over the camp.

I sat on the edge of the roof of the RV with my legs dangling over. The women were starting to come up over the hill with the laundry packed in the back of the Peleteir's car. T-Dog and Glenn met them at the top to help unload.

I watched as Ed got out of the driver's seat and walked back to his tent while everyone else unpacked the car. He noticed me watching as he stomped out his cigarette.

"What you lookin' at?"

"Nothing, just couldn't help but observe how hard they're workin' you. You _poor poor _ abused man," I said in the most sarcastic tone I could manage.

He smiled up at me.

"Why we got some woman watching our camp?" He said so everyone could hear. "We 'bout good as dead now."

I lifted up my gun so he could see.

"Say it again, Ed."

He started to laugh. "Try. You couldn't hit me if that barrel was against my forehead."

"Why don't you try baby girl? C'mon down here and put that barrel against his noggin'!" Merle said as he walked in between Ed and I.

"Why don't you keep that bitch of yours in check, Merle? 'Stead of lettin' her run her mouth!"

Merle jutted his jaw out and squinted his eyes at Ed.

"Y' know what Ed? You're absolutely right. Chris, why don't you come on down here and apologize to the man?"

I shouted, "What!?"

He walked up to the side of the RV, grabbed my legs together, and pulled me down from the top of the camper. I looked down at him as his arms clasped each other under my butt. I kept the gun over my shoulders. He put me down on the ground a few feet away from Ed. We looked at each other for a moment before he took the gun from me and held it in front of him.

"Well?" Ed said. "I ain't got all fuckin' day!"

Merle lifted the butt of the gun from the dirt and hit Ed across the face with it; he fell to the ground and grabbed at his face. I wanted to laugh until I saw Carol running up to her husband's side. Merle bent at the waist and put his hands on his knees.

"I'll tell ya what, Ed. How about you leave my lady alone? 'Cause next time, I'm shovin' the gun up your ass and pulling the trigger."

Before turning and walking away he turned towards Carol and nodded, "Ma'am."

Carol was stunned. I could tell she wanted to be angry with Merle, but her experience with men kept her silent.

Merle put his hand on my back and turned me back towards the camper. He handed me the rifle as I was about to step up the ladder.

"Get back to your watch. If that asshole gives you anymore trouble, you know where to find me."

I smiled, "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do that?"

"I wanted to do more than that," he nodded.

"That'll do."

He put an arm on the back of the camper and stuck a thumb in one of the belt loops on his pants.

"What time you get off work?"

I was almost tempted to flick him on the nose and hurry up the ladder. Instead, I pointed up at the sun.

"Soon as it's dusk. Why?"

"You been skinny dippin' in the lake yet?"

I smiled as I shook my head and pushed on his chest.

"I gotta get back up there."

I turned and started to climb.

"So it's a date?"

"Maybe. If you're good," I said as I winked.

He twisted his face as he smiled. As if he was imagining the night ahead of us.

The rest of the day was boring and scorching hot. Numerous times, I'd almost fallen asleep in the cheap folding chair. Daryl had taken notice and thrown a stone which hit me in the side of the head. I sat up and stared down at him.

"You ain't makin' me feel safe!" He exclaimed.

I rubbed my head.

"You wanna come up here?"

"Nah. I already did my time as lookout. That's all you."

As I stretched my arms up and yawned I looked up at the sky to see that the sun was finally starting to turn in for the night. I stood and raised my arms over my head before I realized…_I raised my arms over my head!_ I bounded down from the mobile in a hurry to find Glenn and let him know I was done for the day. He was sitting around a fire with his face stuffed with some sort of mystery meat from a can.

"Glenn! Your turn."

I held the rifle out to him as he took another bite from the can.

"_Mmmmph! _Ohmkay. I'll be up in a sec."

I set the rifle on the log next to him and went back to my tent. I quickly unbuttoned my shirt and picked up my hand mirror to inspect my side. My smile spread from ear to ear when I saw that it was completely healed. The scarring was terrible, and it was still a bit tender; but it didn't look disgusting anymore. That alone was enough to make me happy. Before I could get Merle to talk about taking the stitches out, he walked in.

"What are you doin?"

"Look!" I said as I threw my arms up into the air.

He clapped and walked towards me to take a peek at it. He pulled back the shirt and squeezed the wound a bit to see if it was going to ooze anything. My back stiffened as he wrapped his hand around it; it still hurt.

"So? Can we take the stitches out?"

"Looks that way," he nodded. "We'll do it tomorrow morning. No more light for today."

I smiled down at him; I was very excited for tomorrow to come.

Merle stood up and went to his bag on the other side of the room, and fished out yet another bottle of whiskey. He'd moved into my tent the day before.

"Where are you getting all of the booze?" I asked as I buttoned my shirt back up.

"Me n' Daryl found a Walgreens on our way to Atlanta. Place was stocked full, so we grabbed as much as we could and got the hell outta there."

"Oh."

"By the way," he said as he stepped towards me. "I got somethin' for ya."

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

I wasn't expecting anything too spectacular, but on the contrary, he fumbled around in his pocket for a moment before pulling out something very familiar: my cell phone.

"Did I drop it somewhere?"

"No, I noticed it sitting in your bag with a car charger. I charged it when Daryl and I went out the other day."

I took it from him and hit the power button. The start-up screen popped up instantly.

"Oh my God, Merle! Thank you!"

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"How did you know to charge it?"

"I noticed you going through your pictures back at the old camp."

I held the phone in my palm for a moment and stared at it.

"This is one of the greatest things anyone has ever done for me," I paused for a moment. "Those pictures mean a lot to me."

"You miss your family?"

"Of course I do! Don't you?"

He took the phone from my palm and changed the subject.

"May I?"

"Sure."

He went through the phone for a moment before finding what he wanted: my music. He turned on Free Bird and set the phone down on the chair. He took my hand in his; we danced in the light of the lantern hanging from the ceiling of the tent.

* * *

The next morning, he shook me awake.

"You ready to take those stitches out?"

I yawned and stretched.

"You have no idea."

He was already dressed and ready for the day. I must have been tired; I always heard him get up and get ready in the morning. He held a hand down to me to help me out of bed. When we got out of the tent, I saw that he'd already backed Daryl's truck up to the entrance. I really must have been tired! I didn't even hear the truck start.

I hopped up on the tailgate after I'd unbuttoned my shirt and laid on my side. He pulled out a knife from his pocket and carefully cut at the stitching. He gingerly pulled it out of my side. It was nowhere near as painful as falling on the shard of glass or getting stitched the second time, but it still wasn't very comfortable. This time, I was completely still until he'd finished.

"I'm all done here," he said as he threw the stitching to the ground and pocketed his knife.

I turned my body to try to get a look at it.

"How does it look?"

"Terrible. But chicks dig scars, so I think you'll be okay."

I gave him a look that said "whatever" without saying it before getting off of the back of the truck and popping the gate back into place.

"Me and Daryl are goin' out. Stay here and relax for today, and we'll take ya out tomorrow."

I wasn't happy about it, but I agreed anyway.

"Alright."

"Now, I mean it. Don't go anywhere. You understand?"

"I understand."

"Alright. We should be back before sundown."

I heard one of the doors on the truck creak open. I turned to see Daryl throw his things into the back of the truck.

"You 'bout ready?" He said to his older brother.

"Yeah, get it started."

He looked back down at me as the truck started to whine, and kissed my forehead.

"See you later."

"Bye."

Merle went to the passenger side door and went in. I didn't turn around till I heard the truck start to move. I stood with my hands crossed to each elbow as I watched them go up the winding road and out of the quarry. After they were out of sight, I kicked the dirt and sat around our fire. I sighed as I sat with my chin in my hand. I was so excited to go out that day. I thought I was finally free. I guess I should have known better than to get excited.

After my pity party was over, I stood and walked to the middle of the camp to find something to do. The ladies didn't need help preparing anything; they'd already done everything. The laundry was done, and the dishes were washed. Dale and Jim were tinkering around with the RV, and I knew nothing about cars so I didn't want to ask if they needed help. Shane was on lookout duty. I wasn't sure where T-Dog and Glenn where, I thought perhaps maybe they'd gone on another mission to Atlanta to find supplies.

I eventually came across Lori, Carol and their children sitting around a table working.

"What are you guys doing?"

Lori looked up at me, "Just making sure the kids get some schoolwork in."

I smiled at her thoughtfully.

"I'll be back," I said.

I went back to the tent and dug around in my pack before coming across what I was looking for. Afterwards, I went back to the table and set down a stack of textbooks.

Lori and Carols eyes widened.

"Where did you get these?" Carol asked.

"I was in college before all of this happened. You guys could probably get more use out of them than I could at this point."  
Lori put a hand on the books and looked up at me again.

"Thank you, very much."

"No problem," I said. "It's not like I'll ever have to return them to the renter."

Carol picked up one of the books and started thumbing through it.

"Whoa…I don't know much about this stuff."

She handed the book over to Lori, who tilted it to the side as she made a face at it.

"I can show you how if you'd like. I almost know those books forwards and backwards."

They looked at each other.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd love it if you showed Carl," Lori said.

Carol piped in soon after, "Yes! That would be great!"

"I don't mind at all. If the brothers aren't going to let me out with them, I wouldn't mind sharing what I know."

They both smiled and thanked me.

I shifted a book aside and took a seat next to Carol.

"Um…Carol?"

"Yes?"

I stammered for a moment; I was embarrassed, "I-um..I mean, I'm sorry about Merle's behavior yesterday."

"Don't be silly. I should be apologizing to you for Ed."

She looked over her shoulder and over my head before continuing.

"Between you and me, I laughed when Ed wasn't looking."

The three of us laughed as Carl and Sophia kept working.

"How did you end up with a guy like Ed anyway?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," she shrugged. "How did any of us end up with who we're with? It just happened, I guess."

"But Carol, you're so kind, and he's…well…"

She clasped her hands in front of her face.

"He wasn't always like that. At first, he was so kind and gentle. Then, it just happened one day."

I nodded and put my head down. It made me wonder if Merle and I were going to be like that one day.

"I guess you never really know anyone," I said.

Sadness seemed to sweep over her. I think she'd learned that lesson the hard way.

Behind us, Dale's mobile home started to make a commotion as Jim stood in front of it and scratched his head. After the engine failed to start, Dale came out of the camper.

"I don't understand. We fixed everything and it still won't start."

"I have an idea," said Jim.

He walked around the side of the camper and put a leg up to walk inside. He turned the key in the ignition and put his head down on the steering wheel before getting back up and out of the RV.

"It's out of gas!"

"Damn it!" Dale exclaimed as he threw his hat to the ground. "Where are we gonna find gas out here?"

I excitedly stood up and walked towards them.

"I know!" I said. "Merle and I passed a gas station on our way back here the other day. I'm sure there's still some left there. It was packed full of walkers then, but I'm sure they've moved on by now."

"That sounds promising," Jim said. "How are we gonna get it?"

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"I could go," I said.

"I don't think so, missy. Merle was pissed last time we let you go somewhere alone," said Dale.

"Oh, c'mon! You guys are needed here, Shane is needed here. The brothers, T-Dog and Glenn are gone. Who else could go? I'm getting cabin fever! Please? I never get to do anything worthwhile for the camp. I could take Merle's motorcycle and be back before he even knows!"

They stood with their fists on their hips and thought it over.

"You know how to ride a motorcycle? Jim asked."

"Of course. It's not rocket science."

Shane popped his head over the side of the RV.

"How far away we talkin'?"

"Just up the road," I said.

He nodded and wiped his forehead.

"This is against my better judgment, but I say let her go," he started, then pointed up at me. "If anything goes wrong this time, never again. You got it?"

Dale stood with his mouth agape.

"Are you serious Shane? She could get herself killed!"

"I've seen her handle a gun before. She'll do fine. Besides, It'd do her good to get outta the quarry for a bit."

"Thanks Shane."

"Don't thank me yet. This is your last chance."

I put my hands on my hips and looked towards Jim and Dale.

"Grab your gas cans, boys! I'm going out."


	20. Chapter 20-Powder

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Andrea asked.

"Sure, why not?" I responded. "As long as I get back before Merle and Daryl…especially Merle, I'll be fine."

She twisted her mouth and crossed her arms.

"We don't mean to meddle in your relationship Chris, but won't he be awful sore if he finds out?" Dale asked.

As I secured the gas cans to the back of the bike, I said, "As long as _no one _tells him, there shouldn't be a problem."

They looked at each other, then back down at me.

"I just hope for your sake that Merle isn't a violent man," said Dale.

I stopped packing the bike and stared down at the ground. All I could think of was Carol and Ed.

"Merle wouldn't hurt me on purpose; he would definitely yell at me though."

Andrea snickered, "Whatever you say." She turned and walked away.

I looked up at Dale who was still staring at me with his large, round eyes. He almost reminded me of a snowy white owl. He reached up and put a hand on my shoulder.

"All I'm saying is be careful. We don't need you incapacitated again."

"I'll be fine."

"If history has taught us anything, it's-"

I put my hand up.

"That's enough, Dale."

I turned and threw my leg over the seat of the bike. I carefully balanced it between my legs and looked back towards Dale.

"He cares about you, you know. I don't know Merle personally, but I can tell. He's got it for you."

I turned the key in the ignition.

"You trying to guilt trip me?"

"More or less," he laughed. "I'm just saying the man does a lot for you; it would be a shame if he started to reject you because you disobeyed him."

I put my head down and sighed. I definitely understood where Dale was coming from, but my own stupidity and stubbornness got the best of me.

"I'll be back as fast as I possibly can."

And with that, I started the bike and made my way up the slanted hill to the entrance of the quarry. Behind me, the camp members watched until I was completely out of sight. Part of me was terrified that I'd meet the front of Daryl's truck just as I was leaving camp. That feeling subsided as soon as I was out on the open road, and I could feel the wind blowing through my hair. I understood why Merle loved his bike so much.

My arms were nowhere near as long as Merle's, so I had to scoot forward a bit on the chopper's seat to reach the handle bars above me. I must have looked rather silly flying down that highway, but since there was no one alive around to point it out, I could have cared less.

Every once in a while, I would take my eyes off of the road to catch a peek of those fields I was so very fond of. I was almost tempted to ride the bike straight into them; but since I didn't know what I'd find when I got inside and I had a job to do, I thought twice.

The ride to the gas station took less time than I had anticipated. Once I was there, I shut off the bike and prepared my bow before walking towards the pumps. When I'd dismounted, I lifted the bow and looked around the area. I picked off the walkers in my view and carefully walked over to retrieve my arrows out of their skulls. The moment I was satisfied that there were no more walkers in my immediate sight, I removed the gas cans from the back of the bike, and placed them next to one of the pumps so I could get to work. I pulled one of the pumps off of its structure and poked it inside of the gas can. I stood back up and surveyed the area once more so nothing got the jump on me.

When the first can was full, I removed the pump and placed it in the second gas container. I kept checking over my shoulder and looking around the sides of the gas station, just to be safe. When the second can was full, I reached the pump to Merle's bike and filled it as well. I would have to tell him that Glenn went on a gas run and had extra for him as well. I removed the pump from Merle's bike and looked towards the gas station. One part of me wondered what was inside, and the other part didn't want anything to do with what was inside. Curiosity got the better of me.

The ground crunched beneath my feet as I approached the windows of the old run-down quick mart. I put a hand over my eyes so I could peer into the windows. I couldn't see any walkers inside, but I did see some products still lying about on the shelves. I twisted the knob to the entrance and stepped inside. There was a horrible stench that normally would have had me gagging, but unfortunately I was used to at this point.

I walked up to the shelves and started to examine the various products left. There were a lot of snacks and a few canned goods. At the end of the shelves, I spotted a large package of bottled water.

_"Why has no one taken this stuff?"_

I grabbed as much as I could and fit it into my pack, as well as the saddle bags on the back of the bike. When I'd had my fill, I strapped the gas cans back onto the back of the bike and began my journey back to the quarry. As a whole, the trip had only taken me about an hour to complete. Everyone was surprised to see me back so soon when I'd driven the bike back into camp. I looked up on my way down the road into camp to see if I could spot any sign of the brothers. So far, so good.

Shane walked up to the bike as I turned it off.

"Everything go alright?"

"Yeah. There were a couple of geeks, but other than that, it went a lot better than I'd expected."

I unstrapped the gas cans from the back of the bike and walked them over to Dale and Jim. Dale looked me over before accepting them.

"I'm fine," I said. "It went great."

He nodded after he was satisfied that I'd told him the truth.

"Maybe it's a step in the right direction. Getting you out and about on your own, I mean. If Merle knew, maybe he would consider letting you out again."

I shook my head, "Even if I came back unscathed, I can guarantee it's a _really _bad idea to tell Merle. This is between those of us who know."

"Alright," he said. "But he's going to find out eventually."

"When he does, it will be necessary."

I handed the gasoline over and went back to the bike. I took my time unpacking the supplies I'd retrieved from inside the gas station.

"Where did you get all of that?" Shane asked.

"There's a gas station next to the pumps. There's still a lot of stuff in there."

"Maybe turning you out wasn't such a bad idea after all."

I laughed, "I would have phrased that a little better, but regardless, no, it wasn't."

After I'd handed everything over to Shane, I made sure the bike was parked in the _exact_ spot that Merle had left it. I even went as far as to smooth out the tire tracks in the dirt. I seemed cool and calm, but I was still terrified that he would find out. Regret started to rear its ugly head as I stared down at the smeared tire tracks leading out of camp. After what had happened days before in the tent when I had slapped him, I was starting to fear Merle. Not as much as Carol feared Ed, but enough to keep me on edge.

As I stared at the ground, Jim approached me.

"Thank you," he said as he wiped sweat from his brow.

"No problem."

"I'm glad to hear it was no problem. We may need more."

I looked at him, confused.

"Are you leaving?"

"No, but in case we _do_ need to get out of here, we'd rather be safe than sorry."

I nodded as I stared up into the sky. The sun was starting to come down.

"Well, I don't think I'll be able to go out again today. The guys will be back soon."

"Understandable. Next time they go out?"

"Yes. Next time."

I walked around Jim and went to the back of the camp where mine and the guys' tents were located. I put my bag and bow back inside my tent and went to go tend to our fire. As I poked at, I heard the particular sound of a certain engine coming into the quarry. I didn't have to turn around to know who it was. My stomach turned; I wanted to vomit. I waited until the truck made it up to the campsite and came to a halt before standing to greet them.

Daryl got out of the driver's side and went around to the back of the truck. Merle opened the door to the passenger's side, but didn't get out. He sat with his legs dangling over the side; he was staring down at something. I slowly approached with a bottle of water.

"Merle?"

He looked up at me, holding his right arm in a rag covered with blood. I put the bottle down on the floorboards of the truck and moved his hand out of the way so I could look.

"What happened?" I asked as I uncovered the wound. "Did you get bit?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, causing me to think the worst.

I looked up at him.

"Merle! Answer me!"

His pupils looked gigantic. I reached up to feel his pulse; it was going a million miles a minute. I'd never seen him like this. He looked pleased and exhausted at the same time. The bags under his eyes turned dark.

"What took you so long to get here?"

"What? You guys just got here. Are you alright?"

"You fuckin' around behind my back?"

My eyes widened, I thought I'd been caught, but I still played stupid.

"What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, you're fuckin' around with every guy in this camp, ain't you?"

I was relieved, but confused.

"No, Merle. I'm not."

"You'd better not be. Especially with the nigger."

"Um…Okay. You stay right here. I'm going to go talk to your brother."  
I covered his arm back up and went around the back to Daryl.

"What's up with him?"

Daryl pulled their hunt for the day out of the truck by the legs.

"Oh, I never mentioned? Merle likes his coke. Says it makes him a better hunter."

"Are you fucking kidding me? How did he cut his arm?"

"He thought something was attacking him. Ended up cutting himself."

I pulled my hand down my face and covered my mouth.

"Okay."

I turned to go back to Merle, who was leaning against the bed of the truck holding his arm. I wrapped my hand around his elbow.

"C'mon Merle."

I led him into the tent and swung the chair around so he could sit. Instead of sitting, he kept pulling at my shirt and pulling my face into his. I wasn't having it; I pushed him back.

"Sit down!"

"Why you bein' a goddamn prude?"

"Come down from…Whatever this is, then we'll talk. Now sit."

As he sat, I picked up the first aid kit from the other side of the tent.

I kneeled in front of him as I opened it. He reached down and squeezed my face with one of his large hands.

"You're my queen. You know that? You and I could take over this sad excuse of a camp, get rid of the people who don't belong here with us, and us three would be sittin' pretty. Whaddya think?"

I immediately thought of the Protection Squad symbol on the tank of Merle's bike.

".…hold still so I can fix your arm."

He lazily held his arm out so I could clean and bandage it up.

"Tell me what you think."

I couldn't tell him what I thought without upsetting him. He seemed more irate in this condition.

"Well, Merle, I…"

He grabbed the back of my hair and pulled it back. I dropped the bottle of alcohol on the floor of the tent as I moved my hand to the back of my head.

"You wanna stick up for the spic, chink, and spear chucker, don't you? You like Shane and his bitch keepin' us on our knees?"

"Merle, stop. You're not thinking straight right now," I whispered.

He bit his bottom lip and nodded.

"Never thought I'd see the day when my own dear love would turn her back on me for a bunch of people who don't even belong here."

I pulled at his fingers, but his grip tightened. The rubbing alcohol was seeping through my pants.

"I'm not betraying you. Regardless of what you think of those people, you shouldn't say things like that. Just like they shouldn't call you inbred redneck white trash."

He let go of my hair and his face softened. As he pulled his hand back, I scrambled to save the rest of the alcohol. He was still and silent for a moment, then brought his boot down on top of my hand. I yelped, and attempted to pull my hand out from under his foot.

"What are you doing?!"

He leaned forward in the chair and wrapped his hands around my head. They gripped and pulled me forward until my forehead was touching his. My breaths were becoming short and quick. I was starting to get scared.

"Those people out there ain't your friends. They're out to get you. They're out to get Daryl and I. You're gonna defend them now, then tomorrow morning when me and my little brother are dead, you'll wish you'd listened to me."

I couldn't tell if this was Merle or the drugs. It sounded like something that he would say, but at the same time I could not believe it was coming out of his mouth. He was being too paranoid. I tried to lower myself towards the hand that was under his boot; he was stretching my neck up until I thought it would pop out of place. With my one free hand, I attempted to pull at his arms so he'd let me go.

I was terrified to ask, but I had to, "Please let me go," I barely got it out as a whisper.

"Is it us or them?"

When I didn't answer, he pulled up more.

"You!"

He let go of my head, and I slumped down towards the floor. My forehead was still pressed against his. I felt his fingers run through my hair.

"I would never hurt you Chris."

I couldn't say anything. I hated him like this. Most people couldn't tolerate him when he was sober; I could see past his usual antics, but this was terrible.

He held out his arm again so I could continue helping him. As quickly as I could, I cleaned up his arm, and wrapped it. When I'd finished, I boxed the medical equipment back inside the first aid kit and retreated to the other side of the tent to put it away. From behind me, I heard him get up from the chair and push it aside. I felt his presence behind me, but I didn't turn around. Instead, I stayed kneeling on the ground, taking my precious time putting the first aid kit away. He pulled my hair aside and kissed the back of my neck.

"Don't you ever leave my side, Christa. I need you."

I didn't know what to tell him. I knew how to handle drunken Merle, but this was a whole different side of him.

"I won't leave."

Reassurance was the best answer I had.

He hid his face in the curve of my neck and ran his hands up my shoulders.


	21. Chapter 21-Blush

Merle's head lay on top of my breasts as he came down from his "condition". I had crawled on top of the bed and signaled for him to join me. He thought he was getting lucky. Instead, I talked his ear off until he fell asleep. Lucky for me, that part of his typical male personality was still intact. I felt a little bad for tricking him, but I refused to sleep with him while he was high.

I wrapped my arm around him and rested my cheek on the top of his head. It was sort of eerie: I'd never been awake with him this long without him saying something. Merle always had something to say. The only noise coming out of him was his loud snores that I swear could have been heard from the other side of the country. Otherwise, I probably would have taken a nap as well. Despite all of the noise he was making in his slumber, I was rather thankful for the moment of peace.

I looked up from this peaceful moment to see the tent begin to unzip. Daryl poked his head in and looked at me.

"Am I interrupting?"

"No," I whispered. "He finally calmed down and went to sleep."

"Can you come out here? I need to ask you something."

I nodded, then carefully lifted Merle's heavy head and rested it on a pillow. I tiptoed towards the door and quietly zipped the tent back up.

"What's going on?" I asked Daryl after I'd turned around.

"Noticed somethin' funny when I went to get something out of Merle's bike."

_Oh God. _

"Oh?"

"Yeah, the keys were in the ignition."

_I'm. An. Idiot. _

"Huh. That's weird."

"Other funny thing is that it's turned to the right. Merle always turns it to the left when he parks."

"That is strange. Maybe he had a change of heart."

_I'm really bad at playing dumb sometimes._

"Cut the shit. Where did you go?"

_Busted. _

"Don't tell your brother! Pllleeaase!"

"Keep your damn voice down or I won't hafta tell him."

I took a deep breath and looked back towards the tent. I heard the snores coming from inside; I was still safe for the time being.

"Dale and Jim needed gas for the RV. I went to the gas station down the road to get more. I picked up some supplies inside, too."

He walked up to the bike, removed the keys, and turned the handlebars to the left.

"You're lucky he was fucked up when he came back. Otherwise, your ass would be grass."

"Please don't tell him Daryl."

"I won't. I used to do the same thing before all of this. Took it on joy rides when I thought he wasn't around. He always found out 'cause I made the same mistakes you did. I was actually surprised to see that you tried to get rid of the tire tracks. Least he won't be whoopin' your ass. Worst he'd do is dump you."

"For touching his bike?"

He put his finger in my face, "Never fuck with a man's bike."

"Okay," I said, laughing. "What if I need to go again?"

He shrugged, "Go, I guess. Just don't make it so obvious next time."

"Thanks, Daryl."

"Don't thank me yet. As my own punishment, you get to cook tonight. You've been able to do nothin' for so long, you're probably getting rusty."

"Don't start with the sexist jokes. Your brother is much better at it."

I turned to start cooking, but then remembered something.

I walked closer to Daryl so no one else would hear. "Has Merle ever mentioned anything to you about taking over the camp?"

"Yeah. He's been talkin' about it since we got here."

"He certainly doesn't think much of Shane."

"You know how he is. As far as Merle's concerned, only his opinion should matter."

I scoffed, "Ain't that the understatement of the year?"

I kicked at the ground.

"Do you agree with him?" I asked.

"I like the idea, but I don't think it's a good idea."

"I think it's a terrible idea. I think he's underestimating these people. I like them."

"I don't like the black dude or the Asian, but the rest of 'em are alright."

I put my hand on my hips.

"Shut up, Daryl. You're only saying that because it's what Merle would want you to say."

"I can stand on my own two feet! It's no wonder he's questioning your loyalties."

"Hold on, I've never done anything in spite of you or your brother."

He laughed, "That so? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I just caught you lyin' to us for them."

I lowered my arms from my hips.

"Oh shit…you're right."

I clasped my hands around my elbows.

"They expect me to go again for them."

Daryl looked around me at the rest of the group.

"Go again. But this time, when you get supplies, don't give any to them. Let them have the gas. That's it."

"But we need gas too, don't we?"

"Yeah, but we can always fill the bike and truck whenever we go out."

"I put gas in the bike today."

"Good."

He was about to continue when Merle emerged from the tent. He stretched his arms up over his head and yawned. I wasn't sure if he was still under the influence or not.

"Merle…um...how are you feeling?" I asked.

He lowered his arms and approached me.

_Oh God, he's still messed up._

He reached up and put his thumb on my chin as he tilted my face upwards.

"I feel fan-fucking-tastic! Why do you wanna know?"

"Well, you came back…and…"

"Oooh, that! Yeah, all I've got left is this cheap shit. I can't stay in the clouds too long."

Daryl kept staring at the ground. I could tell he's been through this situation many times.

"Daryl, why don't you go get the food ready?"

"Actually, I told Daryl I would cook tonight. You know, seeing as I haven't done much this week."

"Nah. I wanna talk to you. Daryl, go on."

He watched as his younger sibling slowly walked towards the campfire and sorted pieces of meat from the animal they'd hunted down.

"How 'bout a walk on the beach before we eat?" Merle asked as he stuck out his elbow.

"Sure," I said slowly.

I reached out and hooked my arm around his. He led me to the road leading to the lake.

"Where are you two headed off to? " Lori asked.

Merle continued walking, but didn't answer her.

"We're going down to the lake for a bit," I answered.

"Oh, okay. Be careful."

I smiled and nodded towards her.

"You don't need to answer her questions. We could've just kept walking."

"I can't help it. It would have been rude not to answer."

"Your mama and daddy teach you that?" He snickered.

"Yes, they did. What did yours teach you?"

"My mama didn't teach me diddly shit. Useless bitch. My father taught me that I don't have to answer to anyone that I don't respect."

"Is it because she's a woman?"

"I answer to you don't I?"

"Sometimes," I laughed.

He looked down and narrowed his eyes at me. He didn't find it amusing. I cleared my throat and looked forward towards our destination. The sun was nearly gone at this point, making me sure this was to be a short visit. When we arrived at the lake, Merle took a seat on one of the large rocks. I remained standing, and staring out over the water.

"Why don't you come sit down over here?"

He pulled down at the bottom of my shirt.

"Sure."

I stepped backwards and took a seat next to him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him. That oh so familiar scent of exhaust enveloped my senses once again. I could taste it on my tongue. It made me remember what was so comforting about being around him.

"You mad at me?" He asked.

I inhaled once more before answering.

"I'm not mad, just…startled. I had no idea."

"Yeah, I forgot to mention daddy likes to party."

I looked up at him. I was pretty hurt about it, but even if I told him so, I doubted he was going to change for me.

"You _are_ upset, aren't you?"

I sighed.

"No, I'm not."

I didn't have the heart or the courage to tell him how I really felt, but I knew that he already knew better. He stood up and kneeled in front of me.

"Christa Moss, if the world was right, I'd have half a mind to make you my old lady."

I covered my mouth and laughed.

"Merle Dixon, if the world was right, I would have never met you."

"How can you be so sure? You've been in Georgia for a while, haven't you? I'm sure you college kids liked to hang out at the bars."

"Not the same type of bars you're into. Everyone sitting at their Mac Books, drinking martinis. Definitely not your scene."

He lowered his chin onto my knees.

"You sayin' you're too classy for me?"

"No, I'm just saying we come from two very different places."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"But," I sighed. "If science has taught me anything, it's that opposites attract."

"Did science teach you how to stop people from waking up from the dead?"

"It was going to. That was the next lesson before the world ended," I giggled.

A smile spread across his face as he stood up. He looked out at the lake for a moment before he started to unlace his boots.

"What are you up to?" I asked.

"Everyone else got to go swimming, why can't I?"

I watched as he removed his boots and pulled his pant legs up past his knees. He waded in a little ways and looked out towards the lake. I followed suit and waded in with him. He splashed water on his face, and then shook his head like a dog to remove the excess water. As he bent down to get more, I pushed him; sending him face-first into the lake. I turned to make a fast retreat, but before I could get out of the lake, he grabbed at one of my ankles and pulled me into the water. I kicked his hand away from my leg and swam towards the middle of the lake. When I sure I was far away enough, I came up for air. I looked around the lake; he was nowhere to be found.

Behind me, I heard the water stir. I turned around in time for him to splash water in my face. He came forward and wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me up a bit out of the water. I looked down at him as he studied my face. The water dripped from his forehead and back into the lake. The day's last sliver of sunshine reflected off of the lake and turned our faces a dark orange color.

I placed my hands on either side of his face and leaned down to kiss him. I thought there was no romance to be found in the world any longer. I was wrong. We held on tightly to each other and enjoyed one another's company. I wrapped my legs around his torso as he ran his hands up my back. I dipped my head back as he kissed my neck and continued down towards my chest. I was ready to accept him. At the end of society as we know it, I experienced one of the most beautiful moments of my life with someone who, only just a few weeks earlier, had nearly repulsed me. It _was _beautiful for lack of a better term.

Beautiful, that is, until Daryl called us back up to camp for dinner.


	22. Chapter 22-Way Back When

It was a quiet spring evening on campus. I sat in the library chewing on the back of my pen and staring out the window. My brain was fried from studying for my midterms the night before. I looked back down at my laptop. At the top, the start of my paper had my name, and a title. The rest of the page was blank. I crossed my arms on top of the table and lowered my head on top of them.

_"I wish I didn't have to write this paper!"_

I lifted my head back up and watched the icon blink impatiently as it waited for me to type something. My hand moved to my mouse and minimized the window. I went to the internet to see if I could find inspiration elsewhere. I navigated to one of my favorite websites and came across an article about life after death.

_"What a bunch of crap."_

I rolled my eyes at the computer screen without reading the entire article and went to a different section of the website. Then, my phone started singing to me: _Ooooh this feeling it is wonderfuuul! Don't you ever turn it ooofff! _I promptly hit the accept button so it wouldn't disturb anyone else.

"Hello?"

There was silence.

"Heeelloooooo?"

A small voice came on the other end, "Christa?"

It was my roommate, Samantha.

"Hey, Sam. What's up?"

More silence.

"Sam?"

"I…don't think I'll be able to make it to go out with you guys tonight. I'm not feeling so well."

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"Not right now. The doctor sent me home with some antibiotics. He said to get some sleep and I should be fine."

"Doctor? Why did you go to the doctor?"

"This crazy asshole attacked me this afternoon when I was walking back to our dorm. He came out of nowhere and…he bit me. He fucking _bit _me!"

"He bit you? Why?"

"I don't know. He tore a chunk of my skin from me. The police came and shot him, then they sent me to the hospital. It's been a rough day."

"Sounds like it. Sam, I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. I could stay at the dorm with you tonight if you'd like."

"No, you go out and have fun. Noises are kind of bugging me right now. I need all of the peace I can get."

"You got it. I'm going to come by in a little bit to drop off my stuff and get ready."

"Okay, I'll see you then. Bye."

"Bye, Sam."

I pressed on the screen and hung up the phone. By now, everyone else in the library was glaring at me for talking on the phone while they tried to study. I put up my hands and looked back towards them.

"Relax, I'm leaving right now."

They turned back around and went about their business. I shut my laptop and placed it inside my backpack. As I threw it over my shoulder, I heard a loud bang against the window. I looked up and saw a young man in a rugby shirt scratching at the window. His skin was discolored; almost rotten looking. His mouth open and shut against the window. Behind him, police approached and wrapped a cloth bag around his head. They bound his hands behind his back.

I turned to leave the library quickly, looking back every now and then; expecting him to be back at the window. I hurried back to the ladies dorm rooms on the other side of campus.

"Chris!"

I looked to my left and saw my friend Bryce coming towards me. He jogged over and slowed down to walk in unison with me.

"What's going on?"

"Not much, what's up with you?"

I shook my head, "No, I mean what's going on around here? Sam just called me and said she was attacked. Then, just now, I saw this weird looking guy trying to chomp at the window in the library."

"Oh, I'm not sure. I heard about a lot of weird stuff going on, but I haven't seen it myself. Tim's said his sister was walking her dog, and this dude came out of nowhere! He attacked the dog. Bit chunks out of it and shit!"

"Samantha said that someone bit her in a similar fashion. This is weird. Maybe there's a bunch of freak cannibals in town?"

"Wouldn't surprise me. The south is a weird place. I'd rather be back in Cali."

"I hear ya."

We approached the front entrance of my dorm.

"I'm gonna get ready and check on Sam. I'll be back down in a little bit."

"Okay, but don't take too long. I don't wanna be down here with the cannibal freaks," he laughed.

"Oh shut up!" I said as I smacked him with my purse. "I'll be back in ten."

I slid my key card to gain entrance and walked up the stairs quickly. When I arrived at my room, I put my ear against the door. There was no sound coming from the room. I quietly turned the key in the door and opened it slowly. On the right side of the room, there was a large lump in Samantha's bed. She was fast asleep. The television was on a blue screen and the symbol of the manufacturer of her DVD player bounced across the screen.

I set my back pack down and changed out of my sweat pants and hoodie. I quickly fixed my hair and makeup in a small mirror sitting on top of my desk. I picked my purse back up, and turned to shut off Sam's TV before heading back down the stairs. Bryce was in the exact same spot that I'd left him when I went upstairs.

"You ready?" He asked. "Amy, Ted, and John are waiting for us at the bar."

"Yes sir! Let's go."

He stuck out his arm, and I wrapped mine around it.

"Sure your boyfriend won't mind?"

"You're escorting a lady to the watering hole," I giggled. "Not exactly cheating."

"You're right, let's go."

We walked one block down from campus to one of the local bars. Bryce opened the door for me, and I immediately saw our friends sitting at a table across the room. Amy waved us down. We walked across the dance floor and took a seat next to them.

"'Bout time you guys got here," said John. "We ordered drinks for you."

"Oh no!" I said. "What did you order?"

He laughed, "Well, _I _ordered Bryce a Heineken, and _Amy_ ordered you a Red Headed Slut."

I put my hand up.

"I'm sorry, Amy. I don't swing that way."

"Shuuut uuup!" She said. "It's the name of the drink."

She handed it to me, and I tossed it back.

"Wooo! Order me another!"

The rest of the evening, we drank, laughed and enjoyed life. At midnight, Bryce held his hand out to me and asked me to dance. I thought it was going to be something serious, but then the Chicken Dance came on. Bryce, me, and about fifty other drunken idiots got on the dance floor and awkwardly flapped our arms. At the end of our dance, we returned to the table.

"That was fun!" I exclaimed.

Then, we heard a scream come from the dance floor. The flickering purple and white lights made it difficult to make out what was going on. At first, I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was really what I was seeing or it was my imagination. There was a girl about my age sitting on top of a young man and ripping his intestines out of his torso. Mad hysteria and panic took over the small bar. All at once, everyone climbed over each other in a rush to get out of the building.

I stood and stared with my mouth and eyes open wide. I was horrified at what I saw. Amy grabbed my arm and pulled me to the back of the bar where the fire exit was. Once we got outside, there was more screaming. More of these cannibalistic people were chasing other people down and eating them where they lay in the streets!

"What do we do?!" Amy screamed.

"Get the fuck out of here!" John yelled.

He ran off in the other direction, leaving us all behind. Bryce grabbed my arm and pulled me to the end of the alley way behind the bar. We didn't stop running until we got back to the front of my dorm.

"Go up, and see if Sam is okay. Give me your keys and I'll pull your car around. We're getting the fuck out of here!"

I scrambled through my purse and practically threw the keys at him. Around us, everyone was being tackled and eaten. The door to the dorms was broken in; I quickly ran up the stairs. When I got to my door, I realized that the keys I'd given Bryce had the key to my room on it.

"Shit! Sam! Open the door!"

When the door didn't open, and she didn't respond, I started to throw my shoulder into the door. Eventually, it gave in, and I stumbled in. I flicked the light on and looked around the room.

"Sam! We have to go! Get up!"

I hurriedly threw clothes and other important items into my bag.

"Sam! Get up!"

I continued to gather my things together. I opened up my safe to grab the rest of my money and my gun. Sam still wasn't moving. I went to the side of her bed and pulled the blankets back. She quickly sat up, hissing and swiping at me with her long, sharp nails.

"What the fuck are you doing, Sam?!"

She charged towards me; I ducked out of the way and she crashed into my desk. I put a clip into my gun and pointed it at her.

"Sam! If you don't stop, I'm going to shoot you!"

She came towards me again and I shot her in the knee cap. She kept lunging at me. Sam knocked me to the ground and pushed her open mouth towards my face. I pushed my hand into her face, and lifted my gun. I put it to her forehead and pulled the trigger. She collapsed on top of me and her blood started to pour over my shirt. I pushed her off of me and got up. I stood for a moment and looked to see if she was getting back up. When I was satisfied that she wasn't going to get up again, I grabbed my backpack and headed for the door. In the hallway, there was another one of those things at the other end. When it turned and saw me, it screeched and started running toward me.

"Oh shit!"

I ran down the stairs; at the end I saw my car with Bryce sitting in the driver's seat. Upon sight of me, he got out of the car.

"Get in!"

I opened the door and threw my bag in. We were being surrounded faster than we could react.

"What do we do?!" I asked.

He shot the cannibal that was chasing me in the head as it came towards him.

"Go!"

"Get in here!"

"No. You go. Get out of here. I'll be fine."

"But Bryce, they'll get you!"

"No they won't just go!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

He put his gun in my face.

"If you don't go, I'll shoot you!"

I shut the passenger's side door and climbed into the driver's seat. I pulled the seat belt across my chest and put the car into drive. The tires squealed as I pulled away from the dorm. As I adjusted my rear view mirror, I caught a glimpse of Bryce being taken over by the horde.

* * *

I opened my eyes and stared over Merle's moving chest as he breathed slowly in his sleep. The arm I had stretched across his torso was dead and heavy when I lifted it up over him to my side of the bed. I sat up and pulled the blankets back. I found my jeans and pulled them up over my underwear before going outside. Daryl was sitting where he usually was first thing in the morning: around the campfire. He was messing with his crossbow with one hand, and flipping through what looked like an owner's manual with the other.

"Did you break it?" I asked.

He quickly looked up at me as if I'd scared him.

"No, I'm just tweaking a few things. Me and Merle are gonna go out again today. You comin' with?"

I scanned over the rest of the camp.

"I think I'm going to try to grab more stuff from that gas station."

"Remember what I told you. To the left, and take the damn keys out."

"I got it," I said as I smiled at him. "Do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Could you return Merle…you know, sober? Yesterday was mentally exhausting."

He lowered his head.

"Sister, you're tellin' me. He's always been like that."

I nodded and smiled. Daryl stood and fished around in his pockets. His hand emerged with the keys from Merle's bike.

"Just be careful. Don't break the bike."

"What is it you said the other day? Oh yeah, I'm a woman, _not _stupid."

"Smart ass. Go get my brother up."

I clicked my heels together and saluted him.

"Yes sir!"

I dodged as he swatted towards me. When I approached the tent, I heard rustling inside. Merle had gotten himself up. I walked inside and found him standing in the middle of the tent in the buff. I whistled.

"Well, _helllooo_, Mr. Dixon!"

"Close that damn door!" He yelled.

"What? You shy?"

I turned around and zipped up the door as he frantically pulled his pants on. I picked up his leather vest from the chair and placed it over his shoulders after he put on a wife beater. He turned around and I straightened out the front of the vest.

"Daryl's waiting for you outside."

"He ready to go?"

"Looks that way. Where are you guys going today?"

He bent down to pull on his boots.

"We never know where we're goin'. We just go."

"Oh, I see."

On the other side of the tent, I picked up Merle's shotgun and walked it over to him.

"Well, aren't you being a good, obedient little woman?"

"Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"

He stood and gave me the stink eye.

"Technically, but you never do what you're supposed to. What are you up to?"

I thought of an excuse fast and shrugged.

"You caught me. The tent is a pig sty. It's much easier to clean when you're out with your brother."

"You would have made a good little housewife," he laughed.

"Not in a million years."

I unzipped the tent once again and we headed outside. Merle looked towards his brother.

"You 'bout ready Darlina?"

"Waitin' on you, asshole."

"You two are so cute," I said in a sarcastic tone.

"Theee cutest!" Merle said. "Go get the truck started," he said to Daryl.

He turned back to me as the truck whined and squealed.

"Alright, baby girl, we're burnin' daylight. Gotta go."

He leaned in, pecked me on the cheek, then slapped my butt before getting into the other side of the truck. And, off they were for another long day of hunting. Part of me wished he would stay at the camp so we could spend a day together for a change. It felt like that hadn't happened since we were back at our own camp.

As soon as the truck was out of sight, I went back into the tent and grabbed my bow. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked towards the RV. Dale and Jim were still tinkering around with the engine. I didn't know much about cars and whatnot, but I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to take this long to fix one.

"I'm going to the gas station again," I said. "Grab your cans if you want more."

"We don't want more, we _need _ more," Dale said.

"Then, I will get you exactly what you need Dale."

He smiled as he handed the gas cans over.

"You be careful out there," he said after me.

"I'm always careful."

"Yeah, right."

I strapped the gas cans in place on the back of the bike, then sat down on top. I turned the key in the ignition and started it up. The roar of the engine startled a few of the camp members as I woke the bike up. After I was sure it was ready to go, I headed up towards the entrance of the camp; once again fearing I would see the front of Daryl's truck.

The highway was completely bare. No walkers in sight. They were usually wandering around the side of the road looking for something to eat. Aside from the incapacitated ones lying about on the side of the road, there was no sign of them.

When I arrived at the gas station, I once again pulled the pump off of its fixture and placed it inside the container once I was sure nothing was going to attack me. The now priceless liquid glugged and spurted inside of the red gas can. It filled much slower than last time, leading me to believe that the gas was almost gone.

As soon as the can was full and I pulled the pump out, I heard a small cry behind me. I lifted my bow towards it, but quickly lowered it when I saw who it came from. A small, frail old woman cried out, "Please, help me!"

I hurried over to her.

"Ma'am, are you alright? Where did you come from?"

I looked around to see if there was any sign of anyone with her: there was absolutely no one. She had her face in her hands as if she was weeping. I reached my hand out to comfort her. Suddenly, she lifted her head.

"C'mon, boys!"

From either side of the gas station parking lot, two men approached me with their guns drawn.

"Put down your bow, and we won't shoot."

I looked back towards the frail woman.

"What the hell!" I yelled.

"They said put the bow down, young lady," she said. "I wouldn't want my sons to have to shoot you."

I dropped my bow to the ground. The little old woman kicked it to one of her sons, who immediately picked it up and put it around his torso. The other son came up behind me and knocked me out with the butt of his gun.


	23. Chapter 23-Tear Me Down

Merle stood in front of me with his hands crossed in front of his chest. Instead of his normal clothing, he wore a white tuxedo covered from top to bottom in mud and blood. Daryl stood just behind him wearing the same thing. My face and body felt battered. I was not attached to anything, but for some reason I could not pull myself away from the rocks I was sitting against. I lifted my head to look at my surroundings; we were at the waterfall surrounded by flowers that Merle had brought me to a few days ago.

I opened my mouth to say something, but only growls and hisses came out. Upon further inspection of Merle and his brother, I noticed tears swelling up in their eyes. Daryl kept his back to me and wouldn't look. Merle finally uncrossed his arms and revealed a gun that he'd had under his arms.

"It's time, brother."

Merle took a few steps towards me and stopped just in front of me. His younger brother finally turned around to face me. He put his hand on Merle's shoulder; he tried his hardest not to look weak in front of Daryl, but he was having a hard time. I was having a hard time trying to figure out why they were so sad. I tried to open my mouth again in attempt to comfort him. This time, a loud screech erupted from my vocal chords. I realized why the brothers were so sad. I started to weep for myself; I knew what they would do next. Merle lifted his gun and pointed it at my face. Daryl put his hand on the top of the gun to lower it.

"I'll do it," he said.

Merle put the gun inside his jacket. He got on one knee and smoothed his hand over my face. I had the urge to bite him.

"I'll see you later baby girl."

He took one last look at me before turning and getting on his knees in the middle of one of the flower patches. I looked back up at Daryl, who had his crossbow pointed in the middle of my forehead.

"Sorry Christa. Don't take this personal."

He pulled the trigger; my consciousness went black for a couple seconds. Then, I opened my eyes and gasped for air. My eyes took some time to adjust to the blazing bright light pointed towards my face. Once I was able to see my surroundings, I sat forward only to be pulled back by my arm. I pulled my arm again and heard a clanking noise. Behind me, I saw that I was handcuffed to a long pipe leading up to the ceiling.

"Oh my god."

I put my foot up against the wall behind the pipe and pulled. It was no good, I wasn't going anywhere. I started to panic and cry. I didn't care if Merle knew about the motorcycle in the gas station anymore. I didn't care if he left me in the middle of nowhere.

Above me, the floorboards creaked; there was someone else in the house. I was really hoping it was the brothers playing a really mean trick on me. A door opened at the top of a set of stairs directly in front of me. I could make out two large dark figures descending from the top of the staircase, followed by a much smaller one. When they arrived on the floor, they shut off the blinding light. My eyes had to once again adjust to the amount of light in the room.

As soon as I was able to see, I looked up at my captors. It was the brothers and their mother. The frail old woman approached me first. She pulled a riding crop out from behind her and slapped me across the face with it.

"Slut! How _dare _you steal from us!"

I rubbed my face with the hand that wasn't bound to the pipe.

"What the hell are you talking about lady?"

One of the brothers stepped forward with his gun lifted and pointed towards me.

"You stole our gas and supplies from the station on more than one occasion."

"I assume you owned the gas station before this happened?"

The brothers looked at each other.

"No, but we claimed it," said the other brother. "You don't got no business takin' what someone else had gone and claimed as their own."

I had the urge to put my face in my palm, but fought against it.

"How was I supposed to know you claimed it? It's an honest mistake. Can I go now?"

Their mother slapped me across the face with the riding crop once again.

"NO! You're staying down here till we decide what we're going to do with you."

"Well, mama, she's gotta have a group around here somewhere. Maybe we can hold her hostage," said the first brother.

I thought quickly.

"I don't have a group. I travel alone."

Their mother stared down at me.

"Then what did you need all of that gas for? Certainly not all for that little motorcycle."

"I was stocking up…just in case I needed to leave the area."

She slapped the crop in her hand a couple of times.

"I don't believe you."

She then turned to her sons.

"Get what you can out of her. Do whatever you want, I don't care. We need to know more about who she's travelling with."

Afterwards, she went back up the stairs and shut the door. Her two sons turned back towards me and set their guns down on a nearby table. One of them set up a small boom box while the other pulled a pair of pliers out of a drawer underneath the table. As he approached me with the tool in hand, Johnny Cash blared out of the tiny music machine. I scooted myself back towards the pipe against the wall, and hid my face.

_"What would Merle do? What would Daryl do?!"_

They were a lot tougher than I was. They would keep quiet no matter what these men did to them. I realized that that was exactly what I had to do. I had to keep the group safe from these people.

One of the brothers grabbed me by my hair and pulled me away from the wall.

"I'm Ted. This is my brother Peter. You're going to tell us everything, or you're going to be in for a world full of hurt."

Ted pulled my jacket down around my shoulders and tied the sleeves tight together in front of my chest.

"Where is your group?"

I hesitated for a moment, considering telling them everything they wanted to know.

"I don't have a group."

Ted's fist came down hard on my face; sending me down towards the cold concrete floor.

"Where. Is. Your. Group?!"

"There is no group," I whispered.

He stomped on my back, then kicked me in the head. I was dazed and confused. The room spun around me.

"How about now?"

I pulled my chest from the ground and spat the blood circulating in my mouth in his face. He punched me again; this time making me hit the side of my head on the pipe I was attached to. Peter approached and kneeled down before me. He wrapped his hand around the wrist that wasn't stuck to the pipe and pulled it forward. Ted handed him the pliers.

"My brother asked you a fuckin' question."

I started to cry.

"I don't have anything to tell him."

In one jerking motion, he tore one of my fingernails out using the pliers. I screamed out as loud as I possibly could, hoping anyone could hear me. Peter let go of my hand afterwards, allowing me to inspect it and hold it against my chest.

Ted grabbed one of my legs and pulled it towards him. They took turns punching and kicking until I couldn't take it anymore.

"STOP!" I screamed.

"You ready to talk?" Peter asked.

"THERE'S NO ONE ELSE, ASSHOLE!"

He brought his fist down on my already badly bruised face. This time, I lay on the floor too tired and scared to get up again. I had to keep telling myself I was doing this for the good of the camp. If I died there in that basement, that would mean I saved the lives of everyone there.

"C'mon Ted. She's not smart enough to say anything. We'll starve her out; then she'll talk."

Ted nodded, then walked over to shut off the small stereo. Together, they walked up the stairs and flicked off the light at the top before shutting the door. I was in the dark, alone and possibly bleeding to death. The small pitter patter of mice scurrying across the floor unsettled me more. I pulled my jacket apart and pushed myself up from the freezing cold floor so I could sit against the pipe. I fell asleep there for the night, hoping I wouldn't wake up.

The morning sun peeped through the basement windows; waking me from sleep. I could barely open my swollen eyes to look around. I was able to see the dried blood around the gaping wound that used to be one of my fingernails. I pulled one of my feet back towards me and heard a small scraping noise. Under my foot were the pliers from the evening before. I reached for them, and stuck them in my back pocket; hoping that they would come in handy later on.

Directly above me, I heard footsteps roaming about the house. I heard them all day long. From the window, I could see the front porch and the family leaving and entering their home. They had left and returned numerous times throughout the day. I didn't have the strength in me to try and pull myself from the pipe.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, I was very hungry and extremely thirsty. Maybe their plan to starve me out would work after all.

_"No. Merle will find you. Don't worry. He'll come and save you."_

I rested my head back against the concrete wall and watched the sun go down for the day. That was when the door finally opened. Ted hurried down the stairs and stood in front of me.

"Whoa, boy! You don't look so good. Somethin' happen to ya?"

I stared down at the ground and pulled my shoulders back. He came closer and moved my hair out of my eyes.

"Y'know, you are a pretty little thing," he said as he cocked his head to the side. "Ain't cha?"

He caressed the side of my cheek and ran his hand down to my chest. I swatted him away.

"Feisty too!"

His hand came up and cracked me across the face.

"Ted, come up for dinner!" His mother yelled from upstairs.

He looked back down at me before heading back up the stairs.

"I'll be back later, don't worry."

As soon as the door shut behind him, I reached to pull the pliers out of my back pocket. I wasn't going to let that monster take advantage of me. I squeezed and pulled at every inch of the handcuffs. No part of them would budge or bust. I finally got frustrated and put the pliers back behind me. So much for that plan.

I smelled the aroma of their supper seeping down into the basement. It made me more hungry and desperate to escape my prison. I had to think of something fast or I was going to die down there.

The door opened once again nearly an hour later. I quickly conjured up some tears and hid my face in my arm.

"Look, Ted, she's just about ready to crack."

I looked up and acted as if I didn't know they had been there. I quickly wiped the tears from my face and backed up towards the wall.

"You ready to talk?"

I spastically nodded my head up and down.

"You have to let me go! What if they leave without me?" I exclaimed.

"We'll let you go as soon as you tell us where they are," said Ted.

In the back of my head, I was laughing my ass off.

"They're about twenty miles west of the gas station."

I sent them way too far, in the complete opposite direction of the quarry.

"They must be held up in that old mall by the movie theater," Ted said to his brother.

"Yes! That's it!"

I wished I could roll around in laughter.

"We'll go and check it out in the morning. In the meantime, you're staying down here till your story checks out," said Peter.

"But you boys said I could go free when I told you," I pouted. I was going to play nice and stupid for these two until they set me free. I didn't have anything to lose. When they reached the mall, they would either be overrun by walkers or they'll see that there's no one there and think the group moved on without me.

"Shut up. You'll wait. In the meantime," Peter said as he pulled an apple out from behind him. "You can have this."

I grabbed the apple so fast he barely realized that I'd taken it before I shoved it in my mouth. I wolfed it down. The two brothers got up and left the basement as I finished my meager meal. As soon as the door shut behind them, I giggled to myself.

* * *

Early the next morning, I heard the basement door fly open and someone run down the stairs. Before I knew what was going on, Ted wrapped his hand around my mouth and told me to keep quiet. He was looking through the window that showed the front steps to the house. I figured we were waiting for a horde to pass by. Instead, I saw two familiar men approach the front. There was Daryl and Merle, scanning over the property looking for anything suspicious.

I cried out from under Ted's hand and reached up to the window.

_"Merle! Look through the window! See me! I'm here!"_

Ted and Peter's mother opened up the screen door and allowed the brothers to come inside her home.

"Who exactly are you boys looking for?" She asked in the sweetest tone possible.

"Her name's Christa," Daryl said. "She went missing a couple days ago. Should be on a motorcycle."

"Hmmm…Peter? Have you heard any motorcycles pass by dear? My hearin' is so bad these days, I couldn't tell a motorcycle from one of those monsters running around outside."

"No, mama. Can't say I have. Pretty sure I woulda noticed something that loud."

I saw Merle approach the door to the basement. All he had to do was look down, and I would be home free. The mother quickly went to the door and closed it.

"Don't peak down there, dear. It's a bit of a mess. My dear old husband's resting place, I'm afraid."

_"That bitch!"_

"Sorry to hear that," Merle said. "We'll pass back through in a couple days to see if she's been by here if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Happy to see someone who's a normal color for a change," said Peter.

My heart broke as I saw Merle and Daryl walk back down the front steps of the home. For a moment, Merle stopped and looked back at the house as if something bothered him. He shook it off and left the property. Ted let go of me; I collapsed to the floor and begged Merle to come back.


	24. Chapter 24-Desperate

Mama came down the stairs at an irritatingly slow pace. Peter followed close behind her. Her eyes glared down at me with cruel intent. I wasn't sure if she was angry with me or if she was just going to toy with me. For a small, old woman, she was intimidating. Not intimidating like Daryl or Merle, but like a sheep with rabies and fangs. Her wrinkled skin turned upwards as she smiled towards me. I thought for a moment that her eyes looked red, but that could have been a result of being punched in the head.

"Well, child," she started. "That was an interesting visit."

She crouched in front of me. For an older lady, she was remarkably limber.

"Your brothers seemed worried about you," Peter laughed.

His mother let out a loud cackle, "Peter, dear! Those weren't her brothers! One of them had to have been her husband. He had a torn photo of her in his hand. He obviously didn't want that other person in the photo with her."

Merle must have been going through my bag. The only picture of myself I had in there was of me and my late boyfriend.

"Isn't that right?" Mama asked as she drug her nails over the open wounds on my face.

I shook my head, "He's not my husband. We're together, but we're not married."

"As if it matters!" She laughed. "Boys! We _could_ hold her hostage! We'll lure them back here, using her as the bait. We could kill them off one by one! Although it would be a shame to see that man of yours go to waste."

I laughed, "I'm pretty sure he'd rather die than hook up with some dried up old hag."

I thought she was going to lash out at me, instead she smiled and examined her fingernails.

"Normally, I would take offense to that, but since I'll be killing you when I bring your husband…or whatever he is back, there's no need for that now. Maybe I'll let my boys finish him off while you watch."

"But, Ma, why don't we save ourselves a trip and wait till they come back to the house for her?"

"We could, but the little lady may not make it till then. She's in rough shape. We need her alive for this. It's still early; Peter and I will go see her group. Ted, you stay here and watch her."

She turned to Peter and signaled for him to follow her up the stairs. Ted watched until they shut the door; then he looked back towards me.

"Looks like it's just you and me."

He smiled and showed his yellowed teeth. He looked up through one of the basement windows; waiting for his family to leave.

"You can go upstairs if you'd like. I'm doing just fine down here," I wheezed.

Every time my eyes closed, I wasn't sure they would open again due to how swollen they were. I'm sure I looked like hell. I sluggishly opened them back up to see him moving towards me.

Ted took a step forward and knelt where his mother had just moments before. He came forward a bit more and put an arm around my waist; he pulled me towards him. With my free arm, I pushed on his chest to get him off of me. He pulled me in tighter. I kicked and fought as he ran his hand down my back and pulled on my jeans. He started kissing my neck.

"STOP!"

"Shhhh! You'll bring the dead down on us."

"Get off of me!" I cried.

I didn't know what else to do, so I bit his shoulder; taking a small piece of his flesh with it. He screamed out in pain, "You fucking bitch!"

He punched and kicked me, then pulled his gun out and pointed it at my head. I turned my head away and waited for him to pull the trigger. He breathed and hesitated, then put the gun away. His hand came down on my head and pulled up my hair.

"You're lucky we need you; otherwise you'd be dead."

Before he let go of my hair, he punched me in the head again. I kept my forehead pressed to the floor and waited for him to leave the basement before I let my tears loose. I whispered Merle's name over and over; hoping that he'd somehow hear me crying out. I knew that because I could only manage a whisper it was impossible, but saying his name comforted me in a strange way.

When I sat up, I'd left behind a small puddle of blood and tears on the concrete floor. Above me, I heard Ted roaming about the house. It would be hours before Mama and Peter returned from their trip to the mall. Hours that I would still be bleeding, and trying to comfort myself; telling myself over and over that Daryl and Merle would come back for me. I couldn't wait that long. When Mama and Peter returned, they would either find out that I lied or they would think that the group left without me. Either way, it was bad news for me. If they didn't need me anymore, I was done for.

I ripped my shirt in the front, exposing the top of my breasts and wiped the excess blood off of my face.

"Ted!" I yelled as I unbuttoned my pants and exposed my hips. "Ted! Please come back down here!"

I positioned myself on my knees on the floor and swung my hair around over my left shoulder. The basement door opened and Ted descended cautiously. He stopped at the bottom and looked up with me. He had his gun in his hand.

"What?"

"I'm sorry about earlier," I said as I bit my bottom lip. "I was silly for pushing you away; we may be dead tomorrow for all I know. Why don't you come over here and let me have it?"

He grinned and stuck the gun in the front of his pants. He casually strode over to the pipe and stood over me.

"You want it?"

"In the _worst _way."

"Alright!"

He took the gun from his pants and set it on the ground a few feet away. I reached up and started to unbuckle his pants with one hand. I pulled at the other attached to the pipe to assist me.

"Oh," I said. "This could take a second."

He shook his head down at me, "I can't undo you. Besides, it's hotter having you tied up."

"Alright," I said.

_"There goes my plan,"_I thought.

I'm not sure how he found any of this sexy; I was covered in blood and had almost no strength. I looked like a dog waiting to die under the porch.

I undid his pants and asked him to lie down on the floor. I threw one of my legs over his hips and started to grind against him. He ran his hands up my torso. I unbuttoned my shirt the rest of the way, and reached down. My hand rested on the band of his underwear.

"If you close your eyes, I'll start. But you can't look. I'm shy," I said breathily.

"Alright, baby you do whatever you want."

He closed his eyes. I stretched my torso across his and rested my chest in his face. While he was in heaven, I reached as far as I could for the gun above his head and sat back up. I pointed it at his head while he lay on the floor with his eyes closed and a silly grin on his face.

"You can look now, _Teddy!"_

He opened his eyes, and I pulled the trigger. The horrified look on his face stayed as he stared blankly at the ceiling. Before I got up, I went through his pants to see if I could find the keys to either the handcuffs or Merle's motorcycle. I couldn't find either of them. I turned and held the gun against the chain of the handcuffs and pulled the trigger again. The chain broke; and I was finally free from my prison.

I wavered as I stood up for the first time in days and fell back to the ground. I pulled myself up once again and crawled to the stairs. Before I went up, I took one last look at Ted. He was lying in a pool of his own blood in his underwear; still sporting an erection. It was one of the most sad and pathetic things I'd ever seen in my life. I crawled back to his body and pulled his pants back up. Then, I closed his eyelids.

"Sorry Ted," I said. "It was either you or me."

Using the banister for balance, I slowly helped myself up the stairs and pushed the basement door open the rest of the way.

The filthy house was covered in trash and smelled like cat urine. The kitchen was painted what I assume used to be white, but was now a sickly yellow color. On one of the countertops, I saw a pile of keys. I tripped over my feet a couple of times before reaching the small silver and black pile. Still no luck finding either key. I stumbled towards the front door and let myself out of the house.

"Where would they keep a motorcycle?" I whispered to myself.

To my left, I saw a large barn.

"There."

I scurried over to the barn door, falling down twice in the process. With the little bit of strength I had left, I pulled the doors open. There was the chopper; I was insulted at the thought of Peter or Ted parking it in their barn. The idiots left the keys in it. Merle would be upset about the situation, but at least I brought the bike back in one piece. Before I painfully threw my leg over the leather seat and turned the key in the ignition, I stuck Ted's gun in my back pocket. It took some effort to get the bike started; every time my leg pushed down, pain ran up my body and made me quiver.

"C'mon Chris. You can do this."

The bike started, and I swerved out of the barn. I tried my hardest to stay awake on the road as I made my way back to the camp. My arms painfully operated the bike with the handlebars above my head. I rode for nearly four hours before seeing anything that looked even remotely familiar.

_"Why would these people claim a gas station that was this far away?"_

Then I realized just how far Daryl and Merle had come just to find me. Maybe Merle wasn't going to be so upset after all.

Just as the hot midafternoon sun reached its peak, I started to become dizzy and tired. The bike started to drift off to the side of the road as my head began to bob. I corrected its path too late and went straight into the ditch bank and further into the grass field with the motorcycle. It fell on to its side; leaving me trapped underneath. I was much too weak to push it off of my leg. I could feel the hot engine leaving a burn on my shin. My other leg kicked at the seat of the bike in an attempt to push it off, but my body couldn't manage it.

After I struggled to push for almost twenty minutes, I gave up. I stretched my arms out above my head and waited for a walker to come by and eat me. I didn't cry, and I didn't grieve for my life. If Daryl and Merle found me, they'd know I tried very hard to get back to them instead of giving up and dying in someone's basement.

I shut my black eyes and let the sun tan my battered face. The golden grass in the field swayed to and fro in the breeze. This was a wonderful time to pass; I was in the fields that I loved so much. Merle never knew how fond I was of them, but I hoped that when he found my body I had a smile on my face. It would either haunt him for the rest of his life, or let him know that I was happy when I died.

Just when I was getting ready to close my eyes and fall asleep for one last time, I heard a very familiar noise shooting down the road behind me. I turned my body and looked behind me; the road was not visible, but the path that I'd made when I crashed the bike definitely was. My ears did their best to relay the sound to my brain so it could remember where it heard that sound before. It sounded like a vehicle that was about to see its very last days very soon.

_"That's Daryl's piece of shit truck!"_

"Daryl! Merle!" I tried to cry out in vain, but I could not manage anything over a small whimper.

As I turned my body, I felt the gun in my back pocket. I pulled it out and started to fire it into the air; hoping it would signal them to come into the grass. After I ran out of ammunition, I heard the gravel next to the road crackle and brakes screech to a halt. The truck stopped for a few moments, but then started to move again. I threw the gun as hard as I possibly could over the grass; I heard it hit something hard and metal. Soon after, a door slammed and wary footsteps came closer to my position.

"Looks like someone came through here," I heard Daryl say.

I started to pound my open palms against the ground and whisper their names again.

"Chris?"

Their feet beat against the ground as they ran towards me and the bike. They came around the corner and stopped as soon as they saw me. I must have been a mess. Merle dropped his gun on the ground and crouched down next to me. His hands cupped around my cheeks. I struggled to lift my arm and touch his hand. I wrapped my fingers around his and squeezed with my pathetic strength. Daryl came around and pulled the bike off of me.

Through my swollen eyes, I saw the anger and hate in Merle's face.

"Who did this to you?" He said angrily.

I wheezed, "You were there."

He leaned in closer; signaling for me to repeat myself.

"You were there. That old woman and her sons. I watched you and Daryl come and go."

He glared up at his brother. I knew then that they were going to go back to that house. In my condition, I wasn't going to be able to stop them from paying mama and Peter a visit. To be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to stop them.

Merle put his arms under me and scooped me up from the flattened grass. The entire ride back to camp, his eyes were locked onto my face and seemed to refuse to look elsewhere. Daryl tried a few times to make small talk with him to make him feel better, but still his eyes would not budge from the bruises and cuts on my body. He was startled when I reached up to him and he saw the nail missing from my finger. He held my wrist in his hand so he could examine it; never uttering a single word the entire trip. I could hear his heart beating a million miles a minute, and I could see the gears turning in his mind as he planned the demise of that old woman and her remaining son.


	25. Chapter 25-Blank

Upon arrival back to the camp, everyone gathered around the truck as it noisily stopped beside Dale's motor home. I sat up on Merle's lap and scanned everyone's faces. Some of their jaws hung open in disbelief; others smiled and covered their mouths. Hopefully, they would never have to know what it took for me to come back. On the ride there, I thought of Mama's face as she started down at her dead son's body. I wondered if she would attempt to come after me, or if she knew she had a snowball's chance in hell of finding me. There was a very slim chance of her actually finding our camp, and even if she did she would be overwhelmed by the amount of us here.

I reached for the door handle and pulled it open. Merle remained seated until I slid myself off of his lap and onto the dir. My knees quivered underneath me as I held onto the back of the truck for support and walked sluggishly towards the tent. No one said a word to either the brothers or me. I could feel their eyes focusing on every gash and tear on my body. I could have only imagined the things running through their heads.

My hands shook and my back ached as I reached down to unzip the tent. I took one step in and stood still in the doorway. My bag was pulled apart. My clothes and other belongings were carelessly thrown about the floor. The other half of the picture Merle had shown to Mama was crumpled up and tossed into a corner. On the bed was my cell phone sitting on one of the pillows. I took another step into the tent and counted to three before I lowered myself to the bed. Before then, I never thought it was very comfortable; but after sitting on concrete for a few days, it was like lying on a cloud.

I slid my finger across the phone's dirty screen and looked at the last thing seen. It was a picture that Merle had presumably taken of me while I slept next to him one night. I shifted my weight and felt something clink on the other side. Underneath the blankets was a half empty bottle of booze and a small tube full of white powder. I examined the tube in my fingers before throwing it to the end of the bed and covering my face with my hands.

The evidence made me believe that Merle had suffered while I was away. He dealt with the pain in the only way he knew how. Under normal circumstances, I would be upset with the discovery of coke in my bed, but this was different. This was _my_ fault. What would have happened if he overdosed and passed away before I returned? I shook my head in an attempt to get the terrible visions out of my head.

Behind me, I heard feet shuffle on top of the tent's floor. I looked over my shoulder to see Merle standing in the doorway. My swollen eyes puffed a little more from the tears flowing from my eyes. I set the phone back down on the bed, and turned myself around so I was facing him. His face was completely void of any emotion. On the outside, he seemed stoic, but I knew better. On the inside, he was screaming at me. On the _inside,_ he had his hands wrapped around my neck. I forced my sore body to relocate itself in front of him, where I dropped to my knees and lowered my head. I knew I was in trouble; and I was ashamed.

Merle took a step forward into the tent, and turned to zip up the door behind him. He continued to stand as I cowered in front of him. The silence filling up the small space screamed in my ears. Every now and then, it was broken by the sound of my tears slapping against the floor. He had nothing to say to me; he was waiting for me to start.

Once I gathered my courage, I gulped and looked up at him. A calm face stared me back in the eyes. I put my head back down. I didn't have the nerve to look him in the eye.

"Merle," I whispered. "I'm _so sorry._ I didn't know…I just…I had no idea they were there. They snuck up on me and knocked me out…please, don't be angry with me. You were right; you're _always _right."

I had to stop myself when my voice began to quiver and shake. He still said nothing.

"Merle…_PLEASE _say_ something!"_

I reached my hand up to touch his, when our skin met, he pulled his hand away. When I realized he'd have nothing to do with me, I wrapped my hands around my shoulders. I did my best to stifle my weeping; but it proved to be very difficult.

He stepped around me and went to the back of the tent. I didn't look up until he unzipped the tent and left. When I turned to see what he took, my heart broke in two. He'd picked up his bag from the corner of the room. Outside, I saw him put his bag in the bed of the truck and his shot gun in the front seat. As he walked around to the driver's side of the truck, I reached back for his drugs and stumbled outside with them. He started to turn the truck around to gain access to the entrance to the camp. I threw the bottle of cocaine at the wind shield; where it shattered and a cloud of white dust erupted.

"Take your drugs with you, you redneck junkie asshole!" I yelled.

He took one last painful look at me before leaving the camp. I took a step back, and fell on my back end. There I sat in the dirt bawling my eyes out while the rest of the camp looked on.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU STARING AT?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

They all quickly dispersed and went about their business. To my right, Daryl stood and glared down at me. He shook his head and grabbed his crossbow. The last I saw of him for the evening was him ducking into the woods.

* * *

The rest of the evening, I sat inside the tent and sucked the half empty bottle of whiskey dry. Instead of sleeping, I sat and reflected on the week's events. I had no right to be angry with Merle, but I was. I wiped tears from my face and cursed his name.

When he still wasn't back as the sun started to rise on the new day, I began to worry. I fidgeted and paced back and forth around the camp. Daryl finally got annoyed with my behavior around noon; he'd come back that morning with a dead animal that he sat around the fire and skinned. He got up from where he was sitting and grabbed my arm. He walked me over to one of the logs sitting around the campfire and sat me down.

"Stay here and wait. You're freaking everyone out."

I looked over to see the camp staring back once again. My face turned red with embarrassment; I got up again and hurried down to the lake where I sat for hours on end staring at the water as it slapped up against the beach.

"You alright?"

I turned to see Dale walking towards me. I pulled my knees in closer to my chest and rested my chin on them.

"He was worried, you know. He didn't sleep while you were away. All he wanted to do was wait for the sun to come up so he could go find you."

"You know Dale, surprisingly, that doesn't make me feel much better."

He put a hand on my shoulder and bent down so his eyes were level with mine.

"He'll come around. Don't worry."

I stared up at the sun which was starting to disappear behind the trees.

"What if he doesn't come back?" I asked.

"He will."

"How do you know that?"

"You're here."

Dale's positive outlook made me smile a little. If I smiled too much, the healing wounds on my face would split back open.

"Have you cleaned your cuts yet?"

I shook my head, "No, that's been the last thing on my mind."

"Shame on you! Let's go back up to the RV and I'll help you. You can't keep those unattended, especially that finger."

I stood up and walked behind him back up to the camp. When we reached the top, we heard the rumbling of tires against dirt and promptly turned around. Daryl's truck was coming down the road. On the inside, I saw Merle with his eyes focused forward on the road. As he passed us by, he didn't so much as glance over in my direction. I wished he would have ran me over.

Daryl greeted him after he got out of the truck. After a small exchange of words, they both looked towards me. I stepped backwards down the road, then turned to go back to the lake. I wasn't going to let them gang up on me.

"Chris!" I heard Dale yell from behind me.

I kept going and returned to my comfort zone on top of a rock. I stayed until it was completely dark; I was called for dinner, but I never showed. I stayed and watched the water sway. When I realized it was too dark to see anything in front of me, I started to head back.

The light from the campfire flickered and created menacing looking shadows that danced against our tents. The brothers sat around the fire and talked. When they heard me approaching, they stopped and watched me walk into my tent. I reached up to the top of the tent and turned on the light. I frowned at the sight of the large mess that Merle had made when he went through my things. Although my sides still ached from the movement, I began to pick up my clothes and put them back in my bag. I eventually came across the crumpled up picture in the corner. The colors split and made my old lover nearly unrecognizable. I enclosed the photo in my fist and closed my eyes.

After the tent was clean, I stuck my head out and looked to see if the brothers had gone off to bed. The fire was still going, but there was no sign of them. I stepped out into the night and walked up next to the fire. I opened my hand to reveal the crumpled photo. Before I threw it into the fire, I took one last thoughtful look at it. I would no longer have the photo, but I would always remember every feature of his face. My eyes fixated on the burning photo until it was completely gone.

A large piece of wood plopped on top of the dancing flames; shooting sparks up into the night sky. I jumped back a bit and looked up to see Merle sucking from a glass bottle. One of his legs was propped up on one of the logs around the fire. His shirt was covered in dark dried stains. My hands clasped together in front of me, and my head lowered. I got away from the fire as quickly as I could. When I reached the front of my tent, I took one last look towards him and the fire. He was watching me the entire time. I quickly ducked into the tent.

Part of me wanted to go back out and sit with him around the fire. The other part of me was sure that those days were gone, and he would have rejected me once again. I sighed and lied down on the floor with my back resting on the bed. I bent my head back and stared at the top of the tent. My head shot back up when I heard the door unzip. Merle walked in with his bag over his shoulder. He looked down at me and smiled eerily. He walked over to the corner of the tent and set his bag down. Afterwards, he kicked off his dirty boots and reached up to turn the light off. Then, he flopped on to the bed on his stomach. I watched on silently in confusion.

* * *

I'd fallen asleep with my body resting on the floor and my head resting on the inflatable mattress. As the sun came up over camp, I opened my sleepy eyes. Merle had moved to my side of the bed and slept with his face next to mine. I sat up and watched him sleep. Upon inspection of his sleeping body, I looked down at his stained shirt. I reached over and felt the fabric between my fingers.

_"Is that blood?"_

As I continued to fiddle with his shirt, he reached over and grabbed my hand. I gasped and looked up at him. I finally noticed that the bags under his eyes were much darker than usual. He definitely didn't sleep while I was gone.

Neither of us said anything. His eyes were locked on to my face while mine shifted between his face and his dirty shirt. He finally dropped my hand and moved to sit on the edge of the bed with his hands clasped together in front of him. I was afraid to look at him again, so I kept my head down. I felt him run his fingers through my filthy hair and down under my chin. He moved my head up so I'd look at him.

"They're dead, Chris," he said.


	26. Chapter 26-Save Me From Myself

I thought it was awesome that many of you were upset that Chris and Merle were at odds. I guess that means I'm doing something right hahah.

LostOne1775- As much as I hate to admit it, they probably will eventually kill off the brothers. Kirkman stated once that no one in the series is safe from death, and as saddening as that is, all good things must come to an end. Let's just hope that the end is much much later.

* * *

"What do you mean? That's where you went?" I asked.

I looked down at his shirt again. It _was_ blood.

"I don't know what they did to you, but you look like hell. You've got a handcuff stuck to your wrist."

I had forgotten all about the remaining handcuff wrapped around my wrist. It seemed to pulsate when he'd mentioned it.

"Merle, I'm not worried about that right now. I'm worried about _you_. Are _you…_I mean, are we okay?"

He sighed heavily and rested his chin in his hand.

"I just murdered two people, and you're worried about us?"

"If you knew what had happened…." I started, but then turned my head away.

"Okay," he threw his hands up. "What happened, Chris?"

"You're not the only one that left that house a murderer. I killed one of her sons."

He relaxed his arms and scooted closer to me.

"That woman had two sons?"

I nodded, "Yes. I killed him so I could get the bike and come back."

He silently bobbed his head up and down. His eyes seemed to stare off into space.

"How did you kill him?"

"Does it matter?"

Somehow, explaining to Merle that I'd seduced one Mama's sons wouldn't sit well with him.

"I suppose not, but I imagine it would be one hell of a story," he snickered.

Indeed it was.

"It's not funny, Merle. I have that man's blood on my hands, and…" I looked back to the bed. "It looked as if I would have had yours as well if I hadn't done it."

"You know how long I've been snortin' that shit? I know when to quit."

I rested my head on his knee and looked off into the corner of the tent.

"But what if you hadn't?" I whispered.

He lifted his hand and rested it on the side of my head; pushing my hair back with his fingers.

"I'm going to make this clear," he said. "I'm _very _pissed off about what you did. I should take Daryl and get the fuck out of here. Leave _you_ behind."

I looked up at him as he emphasized the 'you'.

"But I'm not gonna do that. I may have been hopped up the other night when I said I needed you, but it was the truth."

My face turned up with a small grin. I raised my hand so I could hold his.

"Merle…I owe you. Big time. What do you need from me?"

He thought for a moment before answering.

"Cook my dinner, rub my back when it aches, and put out a few times a week. Do exactly what I say from now on. Then we'll be even."

I lifted my head from his knee and stared down at the bed.

"You want me to be a submissive housewife. Like Carol?"

"No, I want you to be safe. Don't compare me to Ed. You know I'd never beat you."

I did know that for a fact.

"Okay," I said. "I can do that for you."

"Good."

He stood up from the bed and stretched out his back.

"Oh, one more thing. When did you learn to ride a motorcycle?"

"I don't know. From watching you, I guess. It's not a difficult concept."

He smiled and reached his hand out to me. I grabbed at it and held tight as he pulled me up from the floor. He came in close to romance me, but I held out my hand and pushed on his chest.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Change your shirt, then you can have me," I laughed.

"It's dried. Suck it up."

He pulled me in and wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed my lips, then made his way down my neck. Then, he came back up and inhaled the scent of my hair. As I nibbled at his neck, he stopped.

"Do you need to talk about what happened?"

I stopped almost instantly.

"I can't," I said. "Not yet."

I wrapped my fingers around his large shoulders and pushed him back a bit so I could look at him. There was concern and grief wavering in his eyes.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We move on."

I buried my face into his chest. He smelled musty from the blood that had seeped into his shirt.

"By the way, don't get too attached to anyone in this camp."

"Why not?" I asked.

"We probably won't be here much longer."

"We're leaving? When?"

"Me n' Daryl are working it out. Just leave it to us."

I would have protested, but I felt as if I was no longer allowed to.

"Okay."

* * *

That evening, the three of us sat around the campfire in silence. The brothers watched me as I cooked their dinner. They looked nervous about something. I started to wonder if it had to do with them wanting us to move out of the camp. I wanted to ask, but something told me I shouldn't.

My mind wandered into space; I started imagining what it would be like anyone ever found a cure for the plague currently haunting humanity. The three of us would probably still be sitting outside, camping for recreation rather than because we had to. Once…if this was all over, I'd probably have a vendetta against camping for the rest of my life.

As I stared off into the stars in the sky, I smelled something awful.

"Hey!" Daryl exclaimed. "You're burnin' the food."

I looked down and saw that he was right. I quickly removed the pan from the fire, and flipped the cooked meat onto paper plates sitting on the rocks around the fire. Merle picked up one of the plates from the rocks and bit into the charred remains of the animal that Daryl had hunted earlier that day.

"Still good. Eat up."

I think he was just trying to be nice, because mine tasted terrible. But I was too hungry to care.

After we finished our meal in more silence, Merle finally piped up, "I'm going to bed. You comin'?"

"Not yet," I said. "I'm gonna stay up a little longer."

"Alright, see you in a while."

He tousled my hair on his way back to the tent. I smoothed out the rat's nest on top of my head immediately afterwards and sat and stared at the fire with Daryl. He still looked as if something was bothering him.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Nah. Nothin' you need to bother yourself with."

"Alright."

He looked up towards my tent.

"He not mad at you anymore?"

I shrugged, "He says he is, but he seems perfectly normal to me."

"Just how he is. Don't brush it off though. He'll make sure you learn your lesson."

"I know he will. That's what I'm afraid of."

Daryl laughed and stood up to shift the logs around in the fire.

"Daryl…was he okay while I was gone?"

He looked up from over the fire. The flames looked as if they were licking his face. He looked up at the tent again to make sure his brother wasn't around before answering.

"No. His temper was worse. Wasn't sober a single day you were gone. I had to fight him to get him to stay here at night so he wouldn't go lookin' for you."

"Oh…"

Daryl sat back down on one of the logs.

"You should feel lucky," he said. "Merle ain't never shown affection like that for anyone. Not even his own mother. I'm not sure what he sees in you, but whatever he sees, he likes."

"Well, that's a nice thing to say," I laughed.

"No offense," he said. "I just don't feel the same way about you like he does."

"I understand. I'd prefer it that way."

I looked up at the night sky once more and looked at the position of the moon. It was getting late. Another little trick that Daryl had taught me.

"I think I'm going to turn in as well. See you in the morning."

"'Night."

The tent was dark when I walked in, but I didn't hear the obnoxious snores that usually came out of Merle, so I assumed he was still awake. I started to take my pants off. After I'd put them over the chair in the back of the tent, I started to crawl into bed next to Merle. As soon as my palm steadied the rest of my body on top of the mattress, he shot up out from under the blankets and pulled me over to his side of the bed.

"Gentle!" I said. "I'm still tender."

He placed one arm underneath my head, and the other firmly on my breast. I widened my eyes at him and cocked my head to the side.

"Your brother is still awake," I whispered.

"Ain't nothin' he's never heard before."

I remembered the conditions he'd laid out earlier, and allowed him to proceed to take my shirt off. After he pulled my shirt up over my head, he climbed on top of me and started to unhook my bra as he kissed my neck. The bra flew to the other side of the tent as if he was excitedly un-wrapping a gift on Christmas. I bent my head back as he kissed my chest and moved downwards. The pleasure I felt that evening was painfully delightful. I didn't care if Daryl heard; I was on cloud nine.

I gasped out Merle's name and called out to whatever god was listening. My nails dug into his back and my back arched as he grabbed a handful of my hair; pulling back tight. When he was ready, he pulled away from my body and left a hot mess on my stomach. I stared at the ceiling and panted. He got up from the bed, and returned with a towel to clean up.

He climbed back into the bed next to me after tossing the towel over his shoulder and threw the blankets over our shoulders. I spent the rest of the night sleeping soundly in his warm embrace. I would have died happy right then and there.

* * *

The next morning, I woke to find that Merle had already gotten up. I didn't know this from the absence of him in the bed, but the argument that was brewing up outside with his brother. I quickly rolled out of bed and got dressed. When I went outside, I saw Daryl with his legs up over one of the logs around the fire and Merle standing over him with his finger in his brother's face.

"Boy, you better fuckin' set yourself straight, or I'll do more than knock you on your ass!"

Daryl spit at his brother, "Fuck you!" He yelled.

Merle brought his fist down on his brother's face. Before I could blink, the two were both on the ground, punching and kicking each other. I looked over to the rest of the camp; they were watching us. Carol and Lori put their kids inside their tents.

I quickly walked over to the brothers and attempted to separate them.

"Will you two knock it off?!"

I got in the middle of the dog pile and pried them off of each other. When Merle was back up on his feet, I pushed him back a bit more.

"What's wrong with you two?"

Merle stood there covered in sweat and panting. Daryl picked himself off of the ground and wiped the blood from his nose.

"Well?"

They didn't want to tell me what they were fighting about.

"We're just playin' around darlin'!" Merle said through a wide smile. "Nothin' to worry your pretty little head about. Now why don't you go get the fire started? I'm starvin'."

I knew Merle was full of shit, but arguing with him would only fuel his temper. I looked back at Daryl, who was still doing his best to stop his nose from flowing. On my way over to the fire, I pulled the handkerchief out of my hair and held it up to his nose.

"Sit down," I said. "And don't tilt your head back."

Behind me, I heard Merle coaxing his younger brother.

"Will you stop picking on him? If you can't behave around him, then go find something else to do!"

Merle looked up at me and pouted. His eyes squinted.

"Why don't you just focus on that fire and leave us alone?"

My eyes widened and I cocked my head at him. I wanted to tell him to cook his own food, but I didn't dare. Instead, I nodded and looked back at the fire. Merle pulled the bloody handkerchief out of Daryl's hand and threw it on the ground.

"Both a' you need to learn how to listen better. Y'all are getting' on my last goddamn nerve!"

At this point, it was killing me not to say something to him to shut him up.

I looked over my shoulder and saw him pull Daryl up from the log. Daryl pulled his arm back and backed up from Merle.

"Go on and get your shit ready," he said to Daryl.

Daryl walked around the fire and to the front of his tent. I watched him until he went inside, then looked back towards his older brother. Merle pulled a small bottle out of his front pocket and flicked it before sitting down where his brother just sat.

As he opened the bottle I took a step forward and reached out towards him. He looked up before I could say anything. When his eyes met mine, I took a step back. He cocked his head at me, and then looked back down at the bottle.

"Want some?"

"No."

"C'mon, why don't you come sit down and relax with your old man?"

He got up and held the bottle out to me.

"Merle, please don't," I said as I shook my head.

He took it as a dare and put some on his finger. He acted as if he was putting it up to his nose; looking up at me the entire time. When I turned my head away, he came towards me. If it weren't for the fire directly behind me, I would have left fast. He lifted his finger to my face.

"Have some."

I shook my head, "I don't want any."

"You afraid it's gonna destroy the life you don't have? Come on."

"No!"

He pushed my head down onto his finger; I exhaled when I came down, causing the powder to move in various directions. He laughed as I pushed him off of me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked as I wiped my face.

"I'm just havin' a little fun with ya. Nothin' to get sore about."

He closed the bottle back up and came towards me again.

"Tell Daryl I'll be waitin' in the truck."

He bent forward and kissed me before walking to the truck and climbing inside. Daryl emerged from his tent with his crossbow slung over his shoulder. Before joining his brother, he picked up my handkerchief from the ground and held it up to me.

"Sorry 'bout that."

I picked the piece of fabric out from his hand and nodded.

"Why's he acting like a jackass today?"

"He's not bein' a jackass. You shouldn't have got in the middle of it."

"He kicked your ass Daryl."

"Yeah, so? He had a little bit of that white shit when he got up this morning. That's just how he gets. You need to learn to accept him."

"This is beyond acceptance. I'm gonna be talking to him about the _white shit_ when you two get back. Enough is enough."

"Merle's the only one who's gonna decide whether or not he has it. Maybe if you can't accept my brother for who he is, you should consider moving on."

Daryl stormed off to the truck and drove off with his brother before I could respond.


	27. Chapter 27-Resent Meets Regret

The morning air chilled my shoulders at the fireside. I went inside the tent and picked up Merle's leather jacket. For the summer, it was pretty cold outside. Not freezing, but there was a chill in the air that seemed to linger throughout the day. It was either the weather, or I was afraid about my confrontation with Merle when he returned.

I sat next to the fire and tried to read. My attention was split between my book and the road up to the entrance of the camp. I sighed and put my head down into the pages; thinking about what I would say when the time came. Every possible outcome played out horrifically in the back of my mind. The least horrible thing that could happen was Merle leaving with Daryl; the worst was Merle taking it out on the rest of the camp and taking it over like he'd mentioned. Whatever happened, I didn't see it ending well. But it needed to be said either way.

"Everythin' alright over here?"

I looked up and saw Shane looming over me.

"Just fine. Thank you."

He sat down next to me with his back to the fire.

"Now it is. Y'know, I know you care 'bout them boys, but you need to keep 'em under control. That's not what the kids need to see."

"That's easier said than done. Merle does what he wants and takes Daryl and I with him."

"After what he just did and said to you and you're still defendin' him."

I stood up from the log and looked down at him.

"How would you feel if Lori ridiculed everything you did?"

His face flushed.

"That's right, I know about you two. You wouldn't be too happy if she judged your bad habits. I'm going to work with Merle on this, you can believe that. Don't you _dare_ come over here again and judge me for defending him. He's all I got. I never did anything for him before I met him and he still took me in. That's not like him. Daryl and I know better than anyone else in this camp that he's not always consistent in his actions, but we love Merle. He's looking out for us. You people are never going to understand that."

I threw the book down on the log and started to walk away.

"You know what you are to him?" Shane started.

I turned back around and made a face that dared him to continue.

"You're just a version of Daryl that he can fuck. He's got you two brainwashed like there ain't no tomorrow."

My eyes grew wide and my anger flared. I started to clench my fists, but then stopped. I needed to stay calm.

"Really?" I asked, then pointed over to Lori and Carl. "Well, I guess that makes _you_ a home wrecker. I'll bet my left tit that that boy's daddy isn't even dead. You just wanted them aaalll to yourself."

I smiled and gave him the finger before turning back around. On my way through camp, I was stopped by Dale.

"Is everything all right?"

I turned back to look at Shane, who was still fuming by our campfire.

"Dandy," I said through a smile.

"Good. Carol wanted me to ask you to go see her when I saw you."

I nodded, "Okay. Where is she?"

"Down by the lake with the kids."

"Alright. I'll go see her right now."

I started to walk away, but then Dale pressed his open palm against my shoulder.

"You sure you're okay? We saw what Merle did earlier."

I pushed his hand off of my shoulder.

"I'm fine. He was…just playing around."

Before he could say anything else, I moved towards the lake to go see Carol. I didn't look back at him, but I knew the owl in the headlights face he was making at me already.

When I got down to the lake, I saw Carol playing in the water with Carl and Sophia.

"Hey!" I called out to her.

"Hey there, stranger. I have a favor to ask."

"Go ahead."

"You mind talking to the kids about some of those books you gave us?"

"Not at all. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, Merle had mentioned something about you knowing quite a bit about plants and animals. That true?"  
"Yes ma'am."

I looked up towards the kids.

"You wanna learn about animals or plants?"

"Both!" Carl yelled.

"We'll cover one at a time. Plants would probably be a lot easier to start with. I'll get one of the guys to come with us into the woods."

"Sounds good to me. The only one up there that would be ready to go is T-Dog," said Carol.

I signaled for the kids to follow me back up the hill so we could go find T-Dog and ask for his assistance. We found him sitting beside the RV cleaning one of his guns.

"Would you mind coming into the woods with me and the kids? I just need someone to watch our backs while I teach them a few things."

He looked up towards the brother's camp.

"Your man won't mind?"

"My man isn't here. We won't be out long."

"If you say so. I just don't want any trouble with him."

"It's no trouble, as long as we don't go out too far."

"Alright. Let's go, I guess."

I lead the way into an open part of the woods, and walked in about ten feet until we came up on some mushrooms popping up out of the ground. I stopped and knelt in front of them.

"You guys know what these are?"

"Mushrooms," Sophia said.

"Good. Yes they are. Do you know what kind of plant they are?"

They both stared at the ground trying to avoid answering the question.

"It's alright if you don't know," I laughed. "If you two knew everything there wouldn't be any point in us coming out here. Mushrooms are a type of fungi."

They both scrunched up their faces and said "eewwwwww" in unison.

"Yeah, some of them are pretty gross."

"Aren't some of them poisonous?" Carl asked.

"Yes. That's why you need to be careful when you pick stuff like this up."

"What about the berries on trees?" Asked Sophia.

"I don't know much about berries. There's a lot of different types. Some of them can really mess you up. I would stay away from them all together if I were you, unless you're with someone that knows for sure."

They both nodded, and we continued on the edge of the forest.

"Oh, this is a good one. Do either of you know what this stuff is?" I asked as I pointed down to the ground.

"A leaf?" Carl replied.

"No!" Exclaimed Sophia. "That's poison ivy. You can' t touch that."

"Very good," I said.

We had spent at least another hour stopping and looking at various plants I saw. Towards noon it started to warm up, so I threw Merle's jacket over my shoulder as we continued our search. I noticed the kids starting to get bored, so we headed back towards the camp.

I guess we had been gone longer than I thought, because when we got back, the brothers were back from their outing as well. Just as they were unloading the truck, the four of us emerged from the woods. Merle immediately turned his attention towards me. T-Dog ducked behind me and out of his sight so he could get around Merle without confrontation. Sophia and Carl continued to follow behind me. Before I approached him, Sophia tugged on my arm.

"Can we go play now?"

I got down to eye level with them.

"Go tell your parents what you're doing first. Don't go anywhere until you talk to them, understand?"

They nodded and smiled. Sophia wrapped her arms around my shoulders and gave me a small hug before running off with Carl. I stood up and sighed as I watched them run off. It almost made me sad that I would never be a mother due to the fact that I was too afraid to have kids in this new world.

After they were gone, I turned to go greet the brothers. I was stopped in my tracks by Merle, who had already come to talk to me.

"What's that all about?"

"Carol asked me to take the kids out and teach them a couple of things. We stayed along the edge of the trees. We didn't go far."

He pointed up in T-Dog's direction, "He a teacher too?"

"I asked him to come with in case anything happened."

"What did I tell you about not getting attached to these people? They ain't your family."

"Well, technically neither are you."

"Woman, I'm the closest thing you got to family. You think they'd watch out for you like I do?"

"I don't know."

"That's right. Ya don't. Come n' help me n' Daryl unload the truck."

"Alright."

Daryl had already started to unload what was in the truck. They must have gone to clean out the gas station, because there were loads of supplies.

"Where you wanna put this Merle?" Daryl asked.

"Put up my tent and stick it in there."

Daryl opened up the back of the truck and pulled out the bag that Merle's tent was in. As he unzipped the bag, I turned to see the rest of the camp looking at us once again. I had a feeling that they knew Merle wasn't going to let them have anything he and Daryl had retrieved from the gas station. At this point, I hoped we were leaving the camp. We didn't need more tension than there already was.

"Stop until he gets that tent up."

I did what Merle said and put the case of water I was holding back down on the truck bed.

"In fact, Daryl told me that there's something you wanna talk to me about."

I looked at the ground and took a breath before answering him.

"Yes, there is."

I noticed Daryl trying to inconspicuously move to where we were standing so he could hear what we were saying.

"Can we go for a walk or something?" I asked. "Just the two of us?"

He gave me a half smile and rubbed his chin.

"You know what? I'll do you one better. Daryl! Keep workin' on that tent. Me n' Chris are goin' for a ride."

Daryl looked annoyed that he had to work on it alone, but he didn't want to argue so he kept putting the frame of the tent together. Merle picked the keys to the motorcycle out of one of the pockets in his jeans and dangled them in front of my face.

"You wanna drive?"

"No thanks."

He shrugged and led the way to the bike. There were a few scuffs and scratches still left from the fall I took with it. When I hesitated to get on with him, he looked at me, then down to what I was looking at.

"I'm not gonna let us fall, if that's what you're worried about."

I took a step back and kept staring that the deformed metal. Flashbacks of the basement came back to me.

"C'mon Chris. It's not gonna bite," Merle said.

I shook my head and threw my leg over the back of the bike. Merle raced us up the road out of the camp and back onto the highway. Last time I drove away from the camp, it felt like nothing could ever go wrong again. This time, I was shaking and waiting for it to happen again.

When we passed the old gas station, I realized where we were headed. The bike started to slow and pull off to the side of the road. It confirmed my realization. The small opening to the trail heading back to the waterfall looked inviting as ever. I walked before Merle in between the flowers. On our way in, I couldn't help but notice that the hummingbirds above us seemed panicked, rather than peacefully buzzing around collecting their nectar.

As I stared up at them curiously, Merle bent down at one of the flower patches and felt the petals between his fingers.

"So what did you wanna talk 'bout?"

I knew the brothers and their ability to keep their mouths shut. "I'm sure you already know."

"Why is it such an inconvenience for you? You wanna turn me into one of your college boys? Am I not _good _enough for you?"

Everyone was really harping on me today. I collected my patience and responded when I had a good answer.

"That's not it at all. I'm just afraid that that habit of yours is going to get us killed. That's all. And what happens when you run out? You can't just find a dealer."

"I've thought about that. And when I run out, I'm probably gonna leave you and Daryl for a couple days."

I crossed my arms and stared at the ground.

"Are you afraid that I might hurt you?" He asked.

"Honestly? After this morning…I just don't know."

"I've told you this time and time again. I wouldn't lay a hand on you. My dad was a real piece of shit, but he always made it clear that beatin' on women is for pussies."

I didn't say anything at first. Instead I imagined Merle and the things he went through as a child.

"I trust you Merle. That's why if this ever does become a big problem; it's going to hurt me more than you'll ever know."

"You don't need to worry about it."

He wrapped his long fingers around my shoulders and looked around the area. Then, his hand slid down my arm and took my wrist.

"C'mon."

He led me to the side of the waterfall.

"What are we doing?"

"Y' said you trusted me, right?"

He climbed on top of a large rock and pulled himself up to a higher ledge. After he steadied himself, he reached his hand down to me. I stared at it.

"Well, do you?"

I smiled and looked up at him. "Of course."

I reached up and wrapped my fingers around his large wrist. He pulled me up to the ledge with him. We climbed up a few more times until we were at the top of the waterfall; looking down on the flower patches. While I peered over the falls, Merle took a few steps back. He ran towards the edge and jumped down into the water below us. I got onto my hands and knees and looked over the edge. He emerged from the water and looked up at me.

"Jump!"

I took a few steps back like he had done and ran for the edge. I curled my body up into a ball and felt the air move upwards through my hair. When I came up to fill my lungs with air, he was sitting on the edge of the water looking down at me. I swam over and pushed myself up.

"I'm going again, you comin'?"

"Nah. You go ahead," I laughed.

It was remarkable to me at the time that he found enjoyment out of jumping off of a waterfall. Just like a kid would. But the way he'd described his father…maybe he never really had a chance to act like a kid. When he came up out of the water once more, I thought of how lucky I was that I'd found someone that had it in his heart to forgive me for the foolish things I've done. We never really did talk about it. I knew that he was still hurt about what I did; I had to make it up to him somehow. I thought that maybe asking him to stop doing what he enjoyed was a little selfish of me; especially after how I'd behaved. That, or Shane was right and Merle had me brainwashed.

Merle swam over to me and wrapped his arms around my legs, which were dangling in the water. His chin rested between my knees and he smiled up at me. No sooner did that smile spread, did it go away. He un-wrapped his arms from around me, and put them up into the air.

"Take me, but don't hurt her," he said.

"What are you talking about?"

I heard a gun cock behind me. I turned, and there was Peter with the barrel of his shot gun in my face.

"Get up!" He yelled.

I stood up and he knocked me back down with the butt of his gun. Merle shot up out of the water and charged for him.

"Back the fuck up! Your lady owes me."

"What exactly does she owe you?"

I pushed myself back up and rubbed the side of my head where it ached from being hit.

"My mama and brother are dead because of that cunt."

I looked up at Merle in confusion. I was under the assumption that Peter was dead.

"Merle?" I said as my voice choked up.

"'S okay, baby girl. Just relax."

"Get down on your knees," Peter said to Merle.

As Merle got down to the ground, Peter came over and pulled me up by my hair. He got so close to my face that our noses almost touched.

"You love this man?"

"Yes," I whimpered.

"So you'd be sad if he died?"

I knew where this was going. "Peter, please."

"PLEASE WHAT? You killed Ted! Then, this asshole comes to our house and kills mama! You're gonna watch him die, like I watched her die. You're gonna stare at his cold dead body, like I stared at Ted. I'm gonna break your heart, like you broke Mama's."

He grabbed my arm and placed me right in front of him on my knees, facing towards Merle who still had his arms up in the air. Peter raised the gun and leveled it to Merle's forehead.

"Now watch."

I looked into Merle's eyes as I wept for him. This was all entirely my fault. I may as well have been the one holding the shotgun.


	28. Chapter 28-Red

Merle seemed as calm as could possibly be considering the situation he was in. His chest raised and lowered at a normal pace. I wish I could have been that calm. I reached out to touch him, only to be bumped on the top of the head by Peter's gun. I looked up at him; his eyes were fixated on the gun's sight. At the other end, his and Merle's eyes met. Peter was sweating profusely, while Merle looked as if this was routine. He studied Peter like he was at the store picking out a new wardrobe. After he broke eye contact with Peter, he looked back down at me. I knew he could tell I was scared senseless, but the way he was looking at me told me to get my head together and save him. I had to. I got him into this, and I'd be the one to get him out. I stared down at the ground and took a deep breath before speaking with Peter.

"Peter, if he has to die, at least let me put him down," I cried. "You can even hold on to the gun with me."

Peter lowered the rifle and looked from Merle and back to me.

"Alright, but if you do anything shifty, I'll shoot you first."

I nodded and wiped the tears from my eyes. Peter put his hand under my arm and roughly pulled me up from the ground. His finger remained on the trigger as he positioned himself around me. Once we were comfortable, I looked through the sight of the gun and at Merle. I kept the tears coming.

As I told Merle, "I love you," I switched the safety on the gun. I flipped the gun over my shoulder and hit Peter on the head with it. Merle got up from the ground and launched himself at Peter. While they were on the ground fighting, I jumped in an attempt to retrieve the gun. Peter kicked Merle in the face, pushing him backwards. As he recovered, Peter and I fought over control of the barrel of the gun. I felt him flick the safety switch off; he aimed it at my head. We fought over control of the trigger. Just as he was about to blow my brains out, I kicked the gun up and it fired into the air. I heard Merle cry out in pain behind me.

"Fuck you, Peter!" I yelled.

I brought my knee up into his crotch to gain control of the gun. While he was on the ground, I cocked it and aimed it at his body. Just as Peter started to stand and take the gun, I pulled the trigger. Pieces of Peter flew in every direction, splattering onto the trees and staining those pretty yellow flowers with his blood. The hummingbirds were no longer buzzing above our heads. The blast of the shotgun echoed in my ears. After it subsided, there was complete silence until Merle started to whimper.

I turned to face him. He was holding his arm and his face was pushed into the dirt. I dropped the shotgun on the ground and went to kneel by his side.

"Move your hand," I said.

He took his hand off of the bullet wound in his arm and let me look at it. I looked over at Peter's body to see if I could use his clothing as a wrap, but they were caked in blood. I pulled my t-shirt over my head and started to rip it up.

"Can you stand?"

"Shot my arm, not my legs."

I ignored his snide remark.

"Good, go to the water."

He moved himself near the water. I went to sit beside him, and I did my best to clean the blood and dirt off of his arm with the water from the falls. Afterwards, I tied a long strip of my shirt around it.

"That should be okay until we get back to camp."

He looked up at me. He was panting and covered in sweat.

"Merle…I'm sorry."

He looked over at Peter's blown apart torso.

"You did what you had to do to make sure we lived. Don't be sorry."

"But your arm."

"I'd rather be shot in the arm than dead. C'mon, we gotta get out of here. No doubt the geeks heard that."

"Right."

I helped him up from the ground, and we walked back to the motorcycle. On the way, I picked up the shotgun. I stood by next to the bike and waited for Merle to mount so we could leave. He started to take off his leather vest.

"Here, put this on."

I quickly threw it over my shoulders to cover up my bra. He threw his leg over the seat and started it up. Sure enough, just as the engine began to roar, the walkers started to emerge from out of the woods. I quickly hopped on the back of the bike and wrapped one arm around Merle. I kept my other arm free just in case I needed to shoot. The walkers were slow enough that it allowed us to turn around and get away.

The entire trip back, I stared at Merle's injury and watched as the blood trickled down slowly from the gaping wound in his arm. I rested my head against his back and watched the blur of the trees fly by. I almost wanted to fall asleep, but it could wait until we got back to camp.

We finally came up on the road to camp and started down the road. When we passed the lake front, I noticed Daryl standing on top of the RV with binoculars pointed down at us. He must have seen Merle's arm, because he nearly jumped off the top of the motor home to get to us. He stood next to the bike when we stopped next to the truck.

"What the hell happened?" He lifted his crossbow and pointed it at me. "Did she shoot you brother?"

"Put the goddamn bow down, Daryl. _I _didn't shoot him. Peter did."

"Peter? That asshole that locked you up in his basement?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go get him."

"Too late, Daryl. 'S done," Merle said.

I pulled at Merle's wife beater.

"C'mon love. We have to get the lead out of your arm. Daryl, I'm going to need your help."

We got Merle up from the bike and sat him down on the back of the truck.

"I'll get in there and get it all out," I said to Daryl. "If he starts moving around, you have to help keep him still."

Daryl jumped up in the truck behind his brother. I pushed myself up next to Merle and un-wrapped my stained shirt from his shoulder after retrieving the first aid kit. I dabbed up the excess blood around the open wounds with some alcohol. I would have thought the pressure I applied to his arm would have at least made him wince, but he didn't budge or cry out. Next, I picked the tweezers and scalpel up out of the box.

"Hold still Merle."

I pulled his arm out and rested it on my lap. He rubbed my leg as he waited for me to cut into him. I breathed in deep before cutting the bullet wounds open more. He still made no movement, or show any sign of pain whatsoever. I looked up at his face; he looked down at his arm and waited for me to continue. I picked up the tweezers and pushed them inside. The lead clinked against the tweezers; I positioned them so I could pick the metal out of his arm. I dropped the piece of lead on the ground and went back in for more. Once I got all of the pieces out, I cleaned up his injury one last time before wrapping it up again.

"There," I said.

Merle slid himself off of the tailgate. Daryl had left at least twenty minutes before that; he knew I wasn't going to need him any longer.

"Good job, baby girl."

"Thanks…not bad for a first try."

His eyes widened and his head shot in my direction.

"You ain't never done that before?!"

"Nope. Learned from watching autopsies," I said as I smiled up at him.

He shook his head and pushed the tailgate back up into place.

"How were you able to stay still for all of that?" I asked.

"Well, I joined the army after I moved out of my dad's place. I've been in juvi a whole mess of times. I'm used to pain. You learn to shrug it off, or ya go down."

"Oh."

"Think you should go put a shirt on?"

I looked down at my bare stomach and sighed before walking over to the tent. I stopped at the opening and turned back towards Merle.

"Merle? Why don't you come in here? I have something I need to ask you."

I unzipped the tent and stepped in; leaving it open for him. As I pulled a fresh shirt over my head, he came inside and sat down on the chair across the room.

"I thought you said that Peter was dead?"

"I thought she only had one son. I saw the one dead in the basement; then did the mother in. I didn't know I made a mistake till you mentioned something about it."

"I see."

"Sorry baby. I didn't know that psycho was gonna come for us."

"It's alright. He's really not coming back this time."

"Can't believe you shot the son 'bitch. I thought you'd at least let me beat the shit out of him."

I sat down on top of the bed and put my hands in my face.

"I can't believe I did it either. That's not me. Both of that woman's sons are dead because of me."

"You chose life. No shame n' that."

"If I hadn't run off, they'd be alive, and you wouldn't have been shot."

"Forget about it."

"But..."

"Leave it alone!"

I stopped and did what Merle asked. He approached me and sat down on the bed next to me. I leaned over and rested my head on the shoulder that hadn't been shot up.

"I thought about what you said. I'm gonna dump my stash."

I looked up at him.

"Really?"

"You're more important than blow."

I put my hands on either side of his face and kissed him.

"Thank you."

* * *

The fire burned low that evening; Shane didn't want anything too large. He said there was too much activity in the area as of late. Merle started to argue with him, but then gave up when he realized it wasn't making Shane mad.

The brothers opened up a case of beer that they'd taken from the gas station. I'd never joined them for a drink before, but tonight I was in the mood for it. Merle popped one of the tops off with his bare hand. I had tried this many times before, but I could never manage. I'd always ended up cutting my palms.

Every once in a while, I would ask him how his arm felt and if he needed anything. He would always assure me that he was fine, and tell me to hand him another beer.

When the camp was completely dark, we heard some commotion coming from the other side. I lifted my head up to look.

"Not your problem," Merle said.

Since he was drinking, I took extra care in listening to what he had to say. Daryl kept his face towards the fire. I knew he was curious about what was going on too, but he didn't dare look.

After another hour, and the last few bottles remaining, I noticed Daryl get up from his seat and walk over to the side of his truck.

"What are you doin' over here?"

I stood up and started to walk over to see who he was talking to, only to be greeted by Sophia who had run out from behind the truck. She wrapped her arms around my face and wept.

"Oh, Sophie, he wasn't trying to be mean."

I ran my fingers through her hair and sat back down around the fire with her. She sat down next to me and leeched onto me. I looked up at Merle who was glaring downwards; I shrugged my shoulders at him. I was very confused. My shirt was starting to get wet from where her face rested.

"Um, Sophia. Did Daryl really upset you that much?"

She looked up at me with her leaky eyes.

"It wasn't him," she cried.

"Then what is it?" I asked.

She dug her fingers into Merle's leather jacket; tightening it around my shoulders. She shook her head, but wouldn't tell me. I put my hands around her small shoulders and held her back so I could get a better look at her. I noticed that she winced when I had held her shoulders. I took my hand away and pulled up her sleeve. There was a dark blue bruise there. My mouth fell open and I looked back up at Merle. He didn't want to care, but I could tell it didn't sit right with him either.

I pulled the child back towards me and held her until she fell asleep. The brothers and I didn't say a word to each other. The awkward silence was broken when someone else approached our fire. Merle looked up before I noticed they were there. I turned and looked to see Carol gingerly approaching.

"Sorry. I didn't know she'd come over here," she said.

"It's okay."

I picked up Sophia and handed her over to Carol. She almost dropped her. I could tell she'd been hurt too.

"Well, goodnight," said Carol.

Without another word, she turned and walked back to her tent with her daughter cradled in her arms. I stood and watched until she was out of sight, then turned back to the fire. I know what Merle said about getting attached, but that was horrible. It was worse than seeing half of the population being wiped out. I looked up at the brothers. Daryl kept his head down, while Merle wouldn't take his eyes off of me.

"What was I supposed to do? Push her off?"

"Could have. But someone should be over there kickin' Ed's ass."

He stood up and started walking towards their side of the camp. I ran around and got in front of him.

"It can wait till morning, can't it? Sophia and Carol are already upset."

He gulped down the rest of his beer and threw it on the ground.

"I'm going to bed. You gonna come with?"

"Yeah. I'm getting tired."

He put his arm around my waist and we went to the tent to retire for the night.

* * *

I heard Merle get up at an ungodly hour of the morning. I thought about getting up with him, but I was too comfy and warm in bed. A few hours later, he came back in and shuffled around a bit. I pulled the covers over my head and waited for him to be done. When the noise subsided, I fell back asleep for a while longer. When the sun started to irritate my eyes, I finally rubbed them and rolled out of bed.

When I got outside, I noticed Daryl sitting around the fire alone.

"Where's Merle?" I asked.

"Decided that he was gonna go into Atlanta with Glenn and a couple other people."


	29. Chapter 29-Gone

"Why did he go with them? He doesn't even like them."

Daryl shrugged before fixing a bolt to his crossbow.

"You're leaving too?"

"Someone's gotta get food around here. I don't see anyone else doin' it."

"Um…alright."

He put his hand on his hip and sighed heavily.

"What's wrong?"

"I'll be worried with both of you out."

"You wanna come with me?"

"Nah. I'll stay and wait for your brother. Besides, you're a better hunter without someone breathing over your shoulder."

"Damn straight. See you later."

"Bye. Be careful!"

"Who do you think I am? You?"

I smirked up at him and shook my head. He walked into the woods laughing. Behind me, I heard the rest of the camp getting up to start their day. I decided to walk over and say hello. Dale was on top of the mobile home watching over us. I waved at him.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Troubled. But, I guess I can't complain."

He moved to the edge of the roof.

"He'll be fine."

"Actually, it's not _him_ I'm worried about. If I know Merle, his alpha dog attitude will come out when no one really needs it to."

Dale shrugged his shoulders, "You've a point."

I looked out over the rest of the quarry and sighed. "I should have gone with."

"They can handle it. Don't worry."

"I hope you're right."

He looked up at the other side of the camp where the brothers and I stayed.

"Did Daryl leave too?"

"Yeah, he's gone out hunting. I was going to go with, but I figured he needs a break from all of this."

"I see."

I looked over at Amy and saw that she was carrying a bucket with her.

"What's she doing?"

"Looking for mushrooms so we can eat."

I looked down at the ground, and then back up at the tent Daryl had put up yesterday.

"Be right back."

I walked up to the stash tent and unzipped it. Inside, the brothers had neatly arranged canned goods, cases of water, and lots of beer. I picked up a case of water and piled a few different types of canned food on top. I carefully balanced it all and carried it over to where Amy was standing and talking to Lori and Shane.

"You can stop digging for mushrooms."

Lori's face lit up and looked over at Shane.

"That's real nice of you, Chris," he said. "But won't that get you into trouble with Merle?"

"He probably won't even notice it's gone," I replied.

Lori put her hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Before I turned to walk away, Amy stopped me.

"How did you end up with Merle? He would never do anything like that."

"Well," I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. "Merle and his brother both have trust issues. It's nothing personal against you guys. He's just…well, stuck in his own ways."

"Maybe you can teach him some new ones."

I shook my head. "You obviously don't know him very well."

"What's going to happen when he finds out you did this for us?" Lori asked.

"He'll yell and throw his beer around. Pretty much it."

Afterwards, I decided that this would be the opportune moment to clean up the campsite and get some laundry done. I filled up a basket mixed with Merle's and my clothes. I didn't do Daryl's; he insisted on doing it himself. I stacked the basket of clothes inside two wash bins. I juggled the clothes, the bins, and a bottle of detergent. On the way down to the lake, Amy stopped me once again.

"Do you need help?"

"Well, I wouldn't mind some company down there."

She took the detergent and one of the wash bins.

"Thank you."

"No problem. I need something to do to get my mind off of Andrea being gone."

I nodded, "That's why I'm doing this."

"You're worried about Merle?"

"Of course I am. Atlanta isn't the safest place right now. And Merle isn't exactly submissive. If someone tries to boss him around, God help them."

"Yeah…I'm just scared that my sister isn't going to come back."

"I'm sure she'll be fine. It looks like a lot of them went with."

We set our laundry supplies down next to the lake front. I kicked off my boots and dunked the wash bin down into the lake to gather water. Amy did the same with the other bin.

"So where did you and the brothers live before all of this?"

"We actually just met a few weeks before we came looking for water."

"What? You three act like you've been around each other forever."  
I smiled down as I poured detergent in the water and started to scrub one of Merle's dirty shirts.

"I just have an understanding for guys like them, I guess. They remind me of some of my family."

"Do you come from an obnoxious family?"

"Some of them are," I laughed.

I set the shirt down into the rinse bin. Amy picked it up and started to wring it out.

"You don't have to do that Amy."

"It's no big deal. Like I said, I'd like to keep myself busy."

"Alright, just don't tell Merle I let you help me. He'd never let it go."

"Would he be angry?"

"No, it would go to his head, and he'd think he's a ladies man," I laughed.

She giggled and put the shirt back into the basket. I grabbed another one of his shirts and placed it down in the bin. Amy's face turned when she saw it. I looked down and saw it was the shirt covered in dark red stains.

"It's a long story."

She put her hand up. "I don't wanna know."

I held the shirt up and looked at it for a while .

"Do you need to talk about it?"

I looked up at her. "I do, but I don't want to vent on you."

"Well, if you change your mind, I'm here."

"Thanks."

I looked down at the shirt again.

"If we weren't so short on clothing, I think I'd be throwing it away."

"Would he notice?"

"I'm not sure. It definitely stands out, so maybe. I'll wait till he gets back and ask."

After she wrung out the stained shirt and placed it in the basket. She blushed when I pulled a pair of Merle's boxers out of the pile of dirty clothes.

"I'll wash these," I laughed.

"Yeah, that would have been really weird."

"Iiiii agree."

For the better part of the afternoon, we sat and washed clothes. When we were finally done, we struggled to carry them up the hill. They were a lot heavier than when we started. Lori and Carol sent the kids down the road to help us. Carl and Sophia both took one of the wash bins. The bins were bigger than the kids were; making them struggle just as much as we were.

They set the laundry and bins down in front of the line hung near the tents.

"Thanks guys," I said.

"My mom said I had to," said Carl.

I covered my mouth and laughed at what he said.

"Well, you were very good to do what your mother asked," I said.

Carl smiled up at me, then walked away. Sophia remained behind.

"Do you need any help?" she asked.

"Well, not right now. I think I can manage hanging the clothes."

"Oh…are you going to take us out today?"

"Hmm, probably not. All of the guys are gone, we have no one to go with us."

"What about Shane?"

"Shane needs to stay here and watch the camp. We'll go again, Sophie, I promise."

She looked back at her mother and father before looking back towards me.

"You don't want to go back over there, do you?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"Alright, well, I'll tell you what, you can hand the clothes up to Amy and I and we'll hang them. That sound good to you?"

She nodded and smiled up at me before moving to one of the baskets and pulling out a pair of pants. She handed them up to Amy. We continued in this fashion until her Sophia's father came over.

"Sophia, what the hell are you doin'?"

I put my face in my palm. Sophia immediately stopped what she was doing and looked up at her father.

"I..um…well, daddy…I."

"She asked if she could help, and I agreed. You're always talking about ladies doing laundry. We're just making sure she's good at it when she's older."

His squinting eyes shifted between me and his daughter.

"First good idea you've ever had."

For Sophia's sake, I didn't let my inner redneck out and lash at her father. I smiled and waited for him to leave us.

"Jackass," I said as he sat back down.

I heard Sophia gasp behind me.

"What?"

"You said a bad word."

"Well, Sophie, sometimes there's just no other way to describe things."

She looked at the ground for a moment.

"You're right. My dad is a jackass."

Amy and I giggled. I really liked having the kids around, especially because of moments like that. They always had something funny to say.

After we'd finished hanging all of the clothes to dry, Sophia went back to her parents, and Amy and I sat around our fire to wait for the rest of the group to return.

"They should be back by now," she said. She was starting to panic.

I picked up a bottle of water and handed it to her.

"They'll be back soon."

No sooner had I said that did a loud siren-like noise come echoing down from the top of the quarry. We looked up to see a bright red car come barreling down the road. Amy and I looked at each other before getting up and running towards the front of the camp. The bright red car came to a fast stop in front of us.

"Turn that thing off!" Dale yelled.

Amy covered her ears. I looked inside the driver's seat to see Glenn wearing the biggest shit eating grin I'd ever seen.

"Turn it off!" Dale said again as Glenn got out of the car.

"I don't know how," he laughed.

Shane walked up behind us.

"Pop the hood!" Shane yelled over the car alarm.

Glenn did what Shane asked him, and Shane reached into the car to pull a fuse. The car alarm stopped immediately.

Amy approached Glenn right away to ask about her sister. While they talked, I saw a truck coming down the road. I smoothed out my hair and clothes, anxiously anticipating a reunion with Merle. When the truck stopped in front of us, Morales, and T-Dog stepped out first. Soon, behind Andrea came up and greeted her younger sister. While the others were talking about their experiences, I waited for Merle to show his face. Instead of my lover, a man in a sheriff's uniform came out from the driver's side of the truck. Upon sight of Lori and Carl, he ran to them and embraced them. I walked past their family reunion and jogged to the truck. I checked the cab and back of the truck for Merle. He wasn't there.

"No…no, no, no, NO!"

I punched the door of the truck and went back to where everyone was standing.

"Where is he?!"

T-Dog looked around the group, then stepped forward.

"Chris, I'm sorry. It's my fault."

"So you left him behind? Or you killed him?!"

I stepped towards him, ready to punch him till I felt better. The man in the sheriff's uniform stepped forward.

"Chris, is it?" He asked.

I nodded and wiped my tears.

"I'm sorry about your husband. He…"

"He's _not_ my husband."

He looked up at Shane before continuing, then looked back at me.

"Well, that man was a threat to the group. He was out of control, I had to subdue him."

"SO WHERE IS HE?!"

"He's handcuffed on the top of the building that we were in."

I covered my face with my hands and stepped back.

"He's…he's going to _die_ up there."

"No," T-Dog started. "I chained the door shut before leaving. The walkers won't be able to get to him."

"Fuck…," my voice trailed off. "What set him off?"

"I pulled a bottle of coke out of his shirt pocket. I'm sure that had something to do with it," said the sheriff.

I shook my head in disbelief, then walked past the sheriff and the others.

"Where you goin'?" Shane asked.

"I'm going to Atlanta! I'm gonna get his ass off that roof, and then I'm gonna kick it!"

The sheriff walked towards me.

"You can't go in there alone. I'm sorry that this happened, but we need to wait until morning so we can go back."

I put my hands on my hips and smiled at him. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. Just wait until Daryl gets back. He's gonna go ape shit."

"Daryl? Who's Daryl?"  
"Merle's brother," said Dale. "She's right. He's not gonna be happy when he gets back. Have fun explaining that to him."

The sheriff looked back towards me.

"Regardless, we need to wait until the morning. Then I promise we'll go back into Atlanta."

I crossed my arms and stared at him for a moment.

"He'll die of heat stroke before then."

"He'll be fine," he reassured me.

"You'd better be right, sheriff. That's all I gotta say."

I turned away and went back up to the tent. I sat inside until night fell upon the camp. I was too angry to converse with anyone. Especially the sheriff. I knew Merle had his differences with police. Being handcuffed by one after the world had ended must have been a huge kick in the teeth.

But Merle's absence wasn't the only reason I was fuming. The sheriff mentioned one of Merle's little drug bottles. He didn't get rid of them like he said he would. While I was in the tent, I busied myself with gathering the rest of the bottles together and placing them inside my bag. After that, I grabbed some of mine and Merle's clothes off of the drying line and into the bag. I put our pistols and some extra ammunition inside as well. My next destination was the supplies tent; I went inside and stuffed the bag with bottled water and a few cans of food, just in case we needed it. The last thing I did was go into Daryl's truck and grab a fresh first aid kit. I put the bag next to me as I sat at the fire. I heated up a can of vegetables and ate them slowly as I waited for everyone to go to bed. The last one to turn in was Ed. After he zipped up his tent, I quickly put out the fire and threw the bag over my shoulders. I picked up my bow and quietly moved to the side of T-Dog's church van. I picked my gun out of my bag and carefully opened the door to the van; trying not to alert T-Dog, who was sleeping inside, or Shane, who was on watch for the night. Before climbing into the van, I set my bag down on the ground. I cocked the gun back and covered T-Dog's mouth after placing my knees on his shoulders. His eyes shot open and stared back at me.

"I'm going to ask you a couple of questions, and you're going to answer them. Got it?"

He nodded slowly. Sweat was starting to soak his brow.

"If you yell out to anyone, I _will_ shoot you. Now, what building is Merle on top of?"

I uncovered his mouth and held the gun against his head.

"It's on Trinity Avenue. It's a big clothing store."

"Good. Now give me the keys to the van."

"What?"

I pushed the gun into his skin.

"You deaf?"

He reached into his pocket and dangled the keys between his fingers. I took them and put them between my teeth.

"Thanks."

I knocked him out with the butt of the gun and dragged his unconscious body out of the van. After I set him down in a nearby bush, I threw my bag into the passenger's seat and quickly started the vehicle. The noise immediately got Shane's attention; I locked the doors before putting the van into reverse and stomping down onto the gas pedal. I hit the side of the truck that the sheriff had brought into the camp on my way out.

In front of me, I saw Shane running for the van. I kept going backwards until I reached the lake front. I put the van in drive so I could turn it around; it almost tipped as I jerked the steering wheel. By this time, Shane had caught up to me. He stood at the door and yanked on the handle.

"Okay, Shane. You caught me."

I unlocked the door, and whipped it open. The door caught him on the head knocking him backwards. I shifted the van into reverse once again and sped up the road out of the camp.

As the van's headlights lit up the road in front of me, I paid special attention to my surroundings to I could get to the city fast. In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but thinking I was going to be too late to save him.

It took a little more than an hour and a half to reach a good stopping point. Before I left the van, I picked a map up out of the glove box and examined it to determine the best way to get to Trinity Avenue. I stuffed the map into a pocket of the back pack, and hopped out of the van. I grabbed the keys from the ignition before leaving, just in case anyone had the nerve to take it while I was gone.

I loaded an arrow on my bow and kept it at the ready. I quietly jogged across the highway and up into the streets of Atlanta. There were a ton of walkers roaming around, but they didn't seem to notice me much. I ran what I imagine to be around two miles before I reached Trinity. On the side of the building, I noticed a fire escape leading all the way up to the roof.

_"This is going to be easier than I thought." _

I took out a couple walkers with my bow and knife before approaching the ladder up to the escape. I whipped the back pack off of my shoulders and threw it up on the landing of the escape before heading up the ladder. A few flights up, there was an open window with a couple of geeks climbing out. In an attempt to make as little noise as possible, I coaxed them out of the window and stomped on their skulls. As I lifted my bloody boot up off of the grate, I heard screams coming from the roof.

"Oh my God. Merle! Merle hold on!"

I continued running up the escape; dodging the rest of the walkers in the open windows. The top of the escape was a small ladder that was broken in half. I heard Merle screaming out in pain.

"I'm almost there, Merle!"

I threw the bag up over the side of the building, then ran back down the escape to one of the open windows.

"Psst! Hey! Ugly! Don't I look delicious?"

The geek from the window screamed at me and chased me up the escape. At the top, I stabbed it in the head and used its body as a stepping stool so I could reach the half of the ladder that was still attached to the building. I pulled myself up and looked over the quarter wall surrounding the roof. There was Merle: lying on the ground in a large puddle of blood. His back was to me, so I couldn't tell whether or not he'd been bit. I went to his side and rolled him over. The blood was coming out of his wrist where his hand should be.


	30. Chapter 30-Hold My Hand

You guys are so cool. Seriously. Since you're all taking the time to review, I'll take the time to respond to a few of them. If I didn't respond to your review, it's nothing personal. I just couldn't think of anything quirky to say.

Brazen Hussy- Always a pleasure to hear from you =)

MelkS- I'm going to answer both of your questions from your Chapter 28 review all at once...Mwhahahhaahhahahahahahahahha haha! But on a serious note, yes Merle lost his hand. Mostly because I believe it's a part of his character development.

Demi187- I guess that means I'm doing something right haha. I'm really liking Chris and Merle together as well. At first, I wasn't sure it would work, but it's interesting to write for a mismatched couple.

Cut The Dotted Line- Why thank you! I've always had mixed feelings about Merle. I have always had the biggest crush on Michael Rooker (I was soo excited when I found out he was going to be apart of the show) but I found myself cheering for Rick to kick his ass. At the same time, I spent the entirety of season two wondering where he was. The hardest part of writing this fan fiction is keeping Merle in character, so I'm reaaallly happy you mentioned that. I was even happier to hear that it inspired you =) As for the second part, I'm human; when I write the chapters, it's usually after I get home from work and I'm sucking down a pot of coffee at one am. I do try my best to catch all of the mistakes I make before I post the next day, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. Good catch though haha. I didn't even realize.

ilovealistair- I've never created something that someone described as "addicting" that wasn't a baked good haha. It makes me smile to know I can keep someone's attention without involving chocolate.

* * *

"Merle? Merle! Wake up!"

He looked at me for a few moments before closing his eyes and passing out. I started to shake his shoulders and cry out his name as the moonlight fell over the rooftop. I put my hands on either side of his torso so I could examine his body with the little light I had. His blood was starting to stain my pants and skin. I lifted one of my hands to feel his face. He felt extremely warm. My trembling fingers ran down his cheek, feeling out the grit of his beard; and made my way to his neck. His pulse was faint, but it was there. I pulled my backpack forward and pulled out a bottle of water. I moved around him and placed his head in my lap. I began to pour the bottle on his face, to see if it would wake him up; he didn't even stir. I moved the backpack under his head and moved back around him. My head rested on his chest and waited for the sun to come up. I was sure that Daryl would come for us; all I had to do was sit and wait.

When the rest I'd hoped for didn't come, I sat back up and stared at Merle's unconscious body in the moonlight. Water was still dripping from his face and made his rough skin glisten. I reached down and placed my hand on his chest. It was slowly moving up and down. When he woke, I'd be there to greet him with food and water. Then, we'd head back to the camp.

I'd noticed his belt wrapped tight around his arm, and his dismembered hand lying on the ground next to some handcuffs dangling from a pipe. I shuttered to think of the things that went through his mind as he mutilated himself.

I squeezed his fingers; hoping that they would squeeze back like they normally did. I did this a few times, and when I got no response I started to lose hope. I leaned in towards his face.

"Merle," I whispered. "Please, get up. Please?"

It was like talking to a cadaver. I put my head back down on his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

In the stairwell leading up the roof, I could hear the dead moan and screech as they banged on the door. I let my tears stain his ripped shirt, as his blood started to stain the rest of my clothing. Just as I shut my eyes, I heard a loud banging noise behind me. When I sat up, I noticed another door for roof access. The door shook as the force behind it banged and pushed. I reached into the backpack and pulled out both guns. I took off the safety and walked towards the door, waiting for the inevitable to happen. The door burst open, and out fell a group of walkers making their way towards me. I shot two, and brought the other down with my knife. As I got up from the ground, I noticed a third going for Merle. I ran and tackled it to the ground; dropping the knife and guns in the process. I struggled with it for a few moments before lifting my legs and kicking it in the chest. As it fell to the ground, I scrambled for the knife, and thrust it into its head. I sat on the ground and stared at it as it twitched for the last time.

Before standing, I picked my weapons up from the ground. I carefully and quietly entered the door with the guns pointed forward and ready. Inside, there were a few walkers quietly roaming around. I took a couple down and continued on. There was a kitchen area with a stove. It looked like a gas stove, so I walked up and turned one of the knobs to see if it was still functioning. A small flame came up from one of the burners.

Once I was sure the inside was relatively walker-free, I went back to the roof where Merle still lay unconscious. I placed my arms under his and began to drag him through the open doorway and closed the door behind us. It took me some time to get him all the way in; I was tired from the lack of sleep I'd received, and Merle wasn't exactly light. He was built solid. Once I got him to the kitchen area, I fell back with one last pull towards me. Before placing the backpack under his head once again, I pulled out another bottle of water and sat down next to him. When the sun came up, I'd try to wake him up again so we could leave. I figured it would be a good time to try and take a nap since we had some shelter. I put my head back down on his torso and closed my eyes.

* * *

I woke up when the sun rose, but not because of the light it emitted, or because of the walkers. Merle sat up fast, and my head rolled off of his chest. As I sat up and rubbed my head, he pushed his back up against the wall and looked at me. His eyes then shifted around the room as if there were a group of people backing him into a corner.

"Merle?" I said as I reached out towards him. "Merle, it's okay. We're going to get out of here."

He took a double take in my direction; he couldn't tell if I was real or not. My hand touched his face.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He closed his eyes tight a few times while he decided whether or not I was a mirage. He finally reached up with his left hand and touched my shoulder. I turned and grabbed the water bottle from the floor. I uncapped it and placed it into his open hand. He looked at it like it was the greatest thing he'd ever seen before chugging down in seconds. As he wiped his mouth and gasped for air, he looked back up at me.

"What the hell are you doin' here, Chris?"

"If I hadn't, you would have died out there."

He threw the empty bottle to the side; I grabbed another and a can of food from the backpack. After I uncapped the bottle and handed it to him, he paced himself with it.

"Did Daryl go off to find more supplies?"

I lifted my head and over my shoulder at him.

"I'm sorry, Merle. Daryl doesn't know I'm here. He doesn't even know that you're still here."

He stared at me, dumbfounded.

"You mean to tell me that you came all the way up here, and _dragged_ my ass in this place by yourself?"

"That's exactly what I mean to tell you. I'm sorry I left, but the sheriff guy didn't want to leave until morning to come back for you. That's why I came back."

He smirked at me, and looked down at his severed limb.

"You take the bike?"

I wrung my hands in front of me while I searched for the right way to answer his question. "No. I took T-Dog's van."

His head shot up and the smirk turned into a bulldog's frown.

"He come with?"

"No…" I looked away; hoping he'd change the subject.

"No, what?"

"He didn't come with. I sort of…robbed him."

He burst out in laughter.

"Not bad, baby girl. Looks like I'm a bad influence on you."

I started to change the subject. "I'm sure you're hungry. Anything in particular you'd want?"

He tilted his head and studied me. "Surprise me."

I opened a can of potatoes and held it out to him before realizing why it wouldn't work. I sighed and pulled a fork out of the backpack so I could help him eat. His teeth scraped against the fork after I placed it in front of his face. He smiled as he chewed.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked.

"Just can't believe you came all the way up here for me."

I stabbed another canned potato and held it up for him.

"Well, you busted your ass looking for me when I went missing."

In the middle of chewing, he stopped and shook his head.

"Are you getting lightheaded?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but I knew that was his problem. I set the can of potatoes down and lifted up his arm. I saw that it was still bleeding.

"We have to stop this before you bleed to death."

He tilted his head back and looked up.

"Turn on the stove and warm up that pan," he said.

I turned and looked behind me.

"You want to cauterize it?"

"Don't have much choice. If we don't, I'm dyin' up here."

I took a deep breath and nodded before doing what he said. While waiting for the pan to heat, I watched him try to feed himself. It was heart wrenching. I didn't know who that sheriff was, or where he came from, but I wasn't happy with him. If I saw him again, I'd sock him in the jaw. I bent back down to the floor to help Merle feed himself.

"Nah. 'Sall right. I gotta figure out how to do it myself," he said.

I nodded and stood back up with my back facing him; watching was making me sick. I held my hand over the pan to check and see if it was hot enough yet. Steam started to move between my fingers.

"Alright, Merle. It's ready."

I took a step towards him and helped him up from the floor.

"I can do this myself," he said. "Stand back."

"You sure?"

"If you do it, I'll be tempted to hurt you."

"Alright."  
I stepped back like he had asked me to and watched as he breathed in deep a couple of times before quickly setting the hot pan on top of his empty wrist. He stomped his boot down onto the tile floor and wrenched his face; but he didn't scream like I thought he would. By this time, he had me convinced that it would take a freight train to do him in.

He set the pan down back on the stove and leaned over it. The sweat from his forehead plopped onto the greasy white metal covering the stove. He held his handless arm out towards me.

"Take the belt off."

I stepped forward and unbuckled the belt from around his forearm. I set it on top of the stove and put my hand on his shoulder. I started to say something when we heard a loud crash coming from the other side of the room. I walked around the corner to see yet another door ready to come off of its hinges.

"Merle, we have to go!"

I ran back around the corner and packed everything back up into the backpack. While I was stuffing everything in, Merle grabbed the towel that had been hanging on the front of the stove and covered his remaining hand with it.

"Put your head down."

I covered my head with my hands and he punched the window open; busting his knuckles open in the process. With our belongings packed and zipped up inside, I threw the bag over my shoulder and stood up to go through the window. I waited for Merle to go first.

"Go!" He yelled.

He grabbed the pack off of my back and nearly pushed me out of the window. The fire escape on the outside was the same one I'd used to get to Merle the evening before. As he climbed out of the window, I pulled both of the pistols out of the backpack and handed one to him when he stood next to me. We ran down the stairs as fast as we could, and slid down the ladder. I started to run back towards the van, but the alley way I'd come through earlier was completely blocked off by the dead. Merle grabbed the back pack and pulled me the other way. I quickly ran behind him as we made our way out of the city.


	31. Chapter 31-Where the Blame Lies

I should apologize for last week: I posted once. Mostly due to a strenuous school schedule. Unfortunately math tests don't study themselves haha. Buut I will be picking up the pace in these next couple of weeks (Spring Break, woo!).

Aaaand for the millionth time, thank you to everyone following, favoring, and reviewing Cherish.

empath51780- I like to think we all have that one friend who has a girlfriend or boyfriend that no one can stand. Christa is that one friend. When she first met Merle, she probably wouldn't be so tolerant of Merle's actions; she would have told him to go fall off of a bridge haha. But since then, she's seen him do so much for her. She's torn between doing what's right and standing up for her man.

And Ice, you are too sweet!

On that note, I'd like to add Amanda Palmer's The Killing Type to the song list.

* * *

We carried on through the blazing hot streets of Atlanta in an attempt to put some space in between us and the dead. I was amazed at Merle's will to keep on running; I had wanted to stop and rest an hour before we reached the edge of the city. Unfortunately, we had carried on in the opposite direction that the van was located.

I set the backpack down underneath a tree and sat down. The sweat pouring from my body drenched my clothes and the ground beneath me. Merle rested his forehead against his arm while he leaned against a nearby tree.

"What _huuhh_ now?" I panted.

He lifted his head and looked around us.

"We gotta go around the city."

"Go around? Merle, we don't have enough supplies for that."

"Haven't you listened to a damn thing I've taught you? Y' can hunt can't ya? There's rivers and streams around here. We'll be fine."

I stared down at my shoes and kicked them together to remove the rocks stuck in the soles. Merle came over and knelt down in front of me.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

My eyes met his in a blank stare.

"Well, yes. I do."

"Then do what I say, when I say and we'll get out of here."

I nodded and stared back down at my shoes.

"Good. Let's go."

I moaned as I stood up to follow him.

"Aren't you tired?"

He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back to me.

"Of course I'm tired, Chris. But we don't got the time to sit around here and look pretty. Move your ass!"

I wiped the sweat off of my forehead and followed close behind him. We walked for the rest of the day in the scorching summer heat. Just as the sun was getting ready to turn in for the evening, we came across a river in the middle of the woods. Merle wanted to spend the night sleeping next to it. As soon as he said we were staying, I dropped the backpack and my bow and ran towards the edge of the water. I scooped up the clear liquid in my palms and splashed my aching body with it. While I was finding happiness in the river, Merle went through the backpack behind me. That's when I remembered that there was something in the bottom that he would be interested in. I stood up from the river and walked over to the bag.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"Just seein' what you brought with."

I started to bite at my nails; I really didn't want him to find those drugs. Now wasn't a good time to talk to him about them. I thought quickly and knelt down with him.

"Why don't you go relax and I'll cook you something?"

He kept his gaze on the bag for a moment before looking at me.

"What's in the bag?"

"N-nothing. I just figured you'd be exhausted. You did lose quite a bit of blood."

Now that we stopped and I had a chance to look at him, he did look very pale. The dark bags under his eyes were a light shade of lavender.

"I guess a quick bite to eat and a nap couldn't hurt."

I sighed with relief as he stepped away from the bag.

"Good. Go take a nap or something and I'll wake you when it's ready."

He sat down under a shady tree as I started to gather some things to make a fire. Every now and then, I would glance up from my arrangement of twigs and dried up leaves to observe his sleep. I knew he didn't feel well, but he wasn't one to complain about it.

As the fire burned, I grabbed for the backpack and retrieved a can of Spam. I used a piece of aluminum foil as a makeshift frying pan. While the slices of mystery meat fried over the flames, I took the opportunity to remove the bottles of cocaine from the bottom of the bag since their owner was out of commission for the time being. Now that I had them in my hand, I wondered why I even brought them. If Merle found them, we'd be worse off than when we started; and we were already in rough shape. There was no way we were getting back to the quarry the next day.

There were four bottles total rattling around in my hand. I took two of them and stuffed them into my pocket. The other two were separated. I threw one across the river; the bottle disappeared inside of a bush. I poured the contents of the other one into the river and threw the empty bottle behind me.

When I had finished disposing of the drugs, I went back to the fire and finished making our meager meal for the day. I separated the chunk of meat; giving Merle the bigger portion. He needed it more than I did. I wrapped our separated meals in more foil and walked over to the tree he was sitting under. I set the warm foil down in his lap and placed my hand over his. As I waited for him to wake, I looked him over. He was incredibly pale.

"Merle? Food's ready."

He opened his eyes and stretched his arms over his head. He picked the foil up from his lap and stared at it for a moment.

"Want me to open it?" I asked.

"I can do it."

After a painful few minutes of watching him struggle to open it, we sat and ate quietly. The bugs and birds sang their tunes in unison as we watched the sun come down over the river. When we finished, I took the foil and folded it up so we could get more use out of it later. After I picked up the garbage from our meal, I sat next to him under the tree and watched the fire burn.

"Get some sleep," he said. "I'll wake you up in the morning."

I tilted my head up towards him.

"You sure? You need the rest more than I do."

"I feel fine. Go to sleep."

I knew he was lying, but I didn't think it was a good time to call him on it. He lifted his knees and removed the pistol I'd given him earlier from his pocket. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in; resting his remaining hand on my shoulder.

"Merle?" I whispered.

"Huh?"

"Do you think we'll be okay?"

He leaned over and kissed my forehead, then placed his hand over my eyes.

"Good night, Chris."

I closed my eyes, but I didn't fall asleep. I couldn't leave Merle to himself for an evening, knowing just how sickly and flushed he looked. Instead, I pretended to rest while waiting for the sun to rise up over the forest again. As soon as I saw the first signs of dawn coming up over the horizon, I unwrapped Merle's arm from around me and stood. I stretched my arms up towards the sky and looked over the river. We had survived the night with the dead roaming just on the other side. When I looked down towards Merle, I noticed that he had his eyes locked onto them. They were crowded around one of the bushes.

"Something die over there?" I asked.

"Not sure," he said. "I don't really care as long as they're not over here."

I nodded and picked my bow up from the ground.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I have to use the bathroom. Be right back."

"Don't go far."

I attached an arrow to my bow just as he was helping himself up off of the ground. He turned his shoulders and stretched out his legs. I was very happy to see that the color in his face was slowly returning to normal.

I stepped into the woods and surveyed the area for any walkers that could surprise me as I did my business. I would have been pretty embarrassed if I was taken down just because I had to pee. Not that I would have had to explain that to anyone, but it was a story that Merle would have had a hay day with.

As I pulled my pants down to start my business, what was left of Merle's stash fell out of my pocket. They clanked together as they found a resting place on the ground. I pulled my pants back up when I finished and stared down at them. Part of me wanted to stomp on them, the other part of me was afraid to. I picked them up and turned to go back towards the river. As I stuffed them in my pocket, I finally noticed Merle peeking out from behind a tree.

"What you got there?"

I stood there like a deer in the headlights with my hand still stuck inside my pocket.

"Nothing, I just dropped something."

He stepped around the tree and came towards me. Just as he was about to say something, he looked up and frowned. His remaining hand shot out and grabbed my wrist.

"We gotta go!"

I looked behind us to see the dead slowly moving in between the trees.

"Pack the bag!"

I got to my knees in front of the backpack and did what Merle had asked as he covered my back. By now, the dead across the river had caught on and were trying to cross the river. As soon as I got the bag zipped up, he grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me up from the ground. We ran down the river side, moving us further away from Atlanta and T-Dog's van.

The dead blocked us just as the river started to bend, causing us to wade across the river to find refuge. As I shuffled my feet along the river bed, my foot got caught underneath a rock.

"Merle!"

I removed the backpack and threw it to him when he turned to face me. He started to come back towards me to help.

"Just go! I'll catch up!"

He realized that he wouldn't be able to assist much other than shooting down the dead that snuck up on me. He stood at the edge of the water and shot the walkers that got too close for comfort. I reached into the water and started to untie my shoe. Just as I started to pull my foot out, a walker wrapped its bony fingers around my shirt and pulled me back towards its open, drooling mouth. I screamed and looked to Merle, who was dealing with his own dilemma. The walker and I wrestled in the water. I did everything I could to keep my flesh away from its rotting teeth. It started to push me down into the depths of the river. I punched it in the jaw so I could get back up. It fell back down into the water for a few seconds before coming after me again.

I started to panic and look around for a weapon. Both my gun and my bow were with Merle on the other side of the river. I started to feel my pockets and found the stash. As I picked one of the little bottles out of my pocket I dodged another attack from the walker, causing me to fall down back into the water. I bit the cap off of the bottle and put some of the cocaine into my palm. The walker screeched and began to come down towards me. I held my palm out flat and blew the white powder into its eyes.

While it was trying to figure out what to do, I dropped the bottle into the water and moved to the other side of the river where Merle stood and waited.

"What did you just blow into that geeks face?"

I grabbed my bow back as I ran past him.

"Now's not a good time. We'll talk about it later. Run!"

He did a double take on the dazed walker a couple of times before following after me. I led us up the side of a hill to slow down the walkers behind us. Once we reached the top, we looked back down to see that my plan was somewhat effective; the dead were tripping over themselves, but there will still some that got up the hill. I looked up at Merle for a moment; his eyes said it all. He was upset with me. I turned and headed back down the other side of the hill. Behind me, I heard him fuming.

We kept running on into the woods on the other side of the river. As soon as we were free from the walkers, Merle stepped in front of me and dropped the backpack.

"Give me what you got left."

The lump in my pocket suddenly felt heavy.

"No."

He took a step forward.

"Give me the _fucking_ bottle!"

I took a step back and shook my head. "No."

When he took another step forward, I flinched and backed myself up against a tree. His face suddenly softened.

"Chris, baby. That's the last bottle. The last I'll ever have. Let me have fun one last time, and it'll be over with."

"It's over with _now. _What was that conversation we had the other day? Oh, yeah! You said I was more important than this bullshit. You said you were getting rid of it. YOU lied. Don't make me out to be the bad guy here."

I pushed myself off of the tree and walked around him to pick up the bag. I kept on walking.

"'Sall right," he said after me. "I got more back at camp."

I turned back towards him, laughing. "No you don't. I got rid of it."

"Even the stuff in the saddlebags on the bike?"

My smile slowly turned into a frown.

"Oh yeah! I got this really great batch of meth hangin' around in the bottom of the bag. Came aaaaalll the way from Albuquerque."

I put my hands on my hips and looked at the ground.

"Guess Shane was right."

I turned and started to walk away again.

"What's that supposed ta mean?"

I turned back around, but kept walking backwards.

"I'm just a version of Daryl that you can fu-!"

My sentence was cut short by the ground behind me giving way into another hill. I saw my legs fly up into the sky as I rolled down the hill backwards. I threw my arm back in an attempt to stop myself. Instead of stopping, I felt my wrist snap. I screamed out the rest of the way down, until I came to a stop at the bottom. I heard Merle running down behind me. I held my wrist and rolled back and forth from the pain. Once Merle caught up to me, he got on his knees and covered my mouth with his hand.

"Shh! They're gonna come around if you keep makin' all that noise."

After I calmed down, I stopped crying out and stared up at him. He ran his fingers through my hair and bent down to kiss me.

"No, no!"

I rolled out from under him and pushed myself back up. I picked the backpack up from the ground and kept walking. I didn't look at him for the rest of the day.


	32. Chapter 32-Waste Not

We spent that night underneath a bridge. As soon as the sun came up, we were on our way again. While we were stopped, I pulled the first aid kit I took from Daryl's truck and wrapped my wrist. I wouldn't be able to function with my bow correctly, so it stayed wrapped around my shoulders as we carried on through the day.

I hoped and prayed that no herds were coming through; we were low on supplies, hungry and exhausted. I started to worry. We were still very far from being anywhere near the quarry. By this time, I was wishing I'd taken the sheriff's advice and stayed until the morning. On the other hand, the walkers that busted through the other door would have killed Merle indefinitely.

Once in a while, I would look up at him to see how he was doing. He was no longer the ghost I saw two days earlier. All of the color had come back to his face. The grit from his beard was growing in quickly, and he looked absolutely exhausted. I'm sure I looked just as bad, if not worse.

As we climbed up to the top of the bridge, I slipped back down the incline. Merle put his arm around my waist and pushed me back up. I looked back at him for a second, then continued on. At the top of the bridge, I stopped and wiped the sweat from my forehead. It was still early in the morning, but the heat was humid and intense.

I stared across the bridge and down onto the land. My hand shielded the sun from my eyes so I could get a better look. Off in the distance, I saw a very welcomed sight: a very large farm house.

"Merle, come see this."

He came over from the other side of the bridge and looked with me. I pointed off into the distance towards the house; he squinted off in that direction.

"Should we go check it out?" I asked.

He spit and wiped his mouth.

"Worth a shot."

We went back to the end of the bridge and came back down the other side. At the bottom, we started to follow the road leading up to the house. I could see the heat rising up off of the pavement in waves and disappear into the air. The sound of our feet scraping and kicking rocks against the road filled my ears. Walking was a bit uncomfortable for me; one of my shoes was still at the bottom of a river. A slight breeze moved the leaves on the trees and made them sway to and fro.

As I walked, I held my wrist in my hand and stared down at it.

"You think it's broken?" Asked Merle.

I shook my head. "I don't know, but I don't feel right complaining about it to a guy who just lost his hand."

He examined the empty space at the end of his hand and chuckled.

"Guess I should have waited a few minutes more."

I smiled and nodded.

"You still sore?" He asked.

"Physically or mentally?"

"You know what I mean."

I looked out in to the trees and watched the birds fly from tree to tree.

"I'm hurt. I think you understand why."

"I really didn't think I'd see you again after that bastard cop came into Atlanta. Really fucked us over big time."

I stopped in my tracks and looked up at him. He stopped and turned around.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Why would you take them with you in the first place?"

He put his hand on his hip and nodded.

"You got me," he smiled.

"This isn't a joke to me, Merle. I don't like what that stuff does to you. Why do you even bother with it?"

"It's either take it, or go through withdrawal from not taking it."

I put my hands on my knees and let my head drop.

"Shit."

I sighed and lifted my head back up.

"You didn't actually mean anything you said, did you?" I asked.

He came towards me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"I meant every word. But it's a lot easier said than done."

I looked down at our feet in a sad attempt to hide my disappointment from him.

"Well, I guess we just-"

He put a finger up and cut me off.

"You hear that?"

I did hear something familiar. I turned around towards the noise. There was a car coming down the road. I started to jump for joy and got ready to wave them down. Merle pinned my arms to my side immediately.

"Get in the woods."

"What? Why? They could help us."

"Goddamn it kid!"

He threw me over his shoulder and walked us into the woods. For someone who had just lost a limb, he still had remarkable strength.

"Why are we hiding?" I whispered.

He cupped his hand around my mouth and we watched the vehicle pass by. It looked a bit like a garbage truck. The cab was full with three men, and there was another two hanging off of the back. As soon as it was out of sight, he lowered his hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "They could have helped us."

"We don't know who they are. We can't trust everyone."

"We trusted Shane and his group."

He shook his head. "Even they could have easily put a bullet in your brain."

"But they didn't."

"Regardless. We need to keep on our toes. Just because we got lucky once doesn't mean we will again."

As I stood up, my stomach started to growl at me. I hoped that Merle couldn't hear it, but it was so loud, the dead in China could have heard it.

"You ready to go hunting?"

I twisted my face and thought about it.

"I'd rather wait till we get settled for the night."

"By then we'll both be too tired."

I looked up into the trees and the surrounding area.

"How do you want to do this? I can't exactly pull my bow back."

He stood up and cocked his gun back.

"I'll be back. Stay right here."

"Uhh…okay."

I didn't think it was a good idea for him to be going alone, but I wasn't in the position to argue or put up a fight. Then again come to think of it, neither was he. I sat and awaited the noise of a gun being fired to ring throughout the forest. It never came. I sunk my shoulders down and listened for Merle's footsteps.

While I waited, I tested my theory. I sat up straight and held my bow in place. As soon as I pulled back, I had to dry fire. The pain in my wrist was too much to endure. I set down my bow and looked at my wrist again. I slowly unwrapped it and saw that it was swollen and discolored.

My head shot up when I heard a twig snap nearby. I looked up and saw Merle coming back.

"There's nothin' to hunt around here. Gotta wait a while longer."

I stood and wrapped my aching appendage back up. We stepped out of the trees and continued our journey towards the farm house.

* * *

The house was much larger than we had anticipated. It had one wide open field in the back with a horse roaming around within. I wondered how on earth the poor thing hadn't been eaten alive yet. We cautiously walked up the steps to the front porch with our guns drawn. Merle kicked the door open and signaled for me to stay behind and watch his back. I watched as he crept around the corners on the first floor. He opened up all of the closets and the bathroom to make sure nothing was there.

When he said it was alright for me to come in, I crept inside with my pistol pointed in front of me. He started to go upstairs. Upon further inspection of the home, I saw that most of the windows and the back door had been nailed shut. There was also another white door with wood nailed across it. It looked like it opened up to a basement. I was sure something unpleasant was waiting down there, but at the same time, I really didn't care. We finally had a roof over our heads.

Once he completed the search of the upstairs, Merle happily tripped his way down the steps to the first floor.

"I think we should stay here a night or two. There's even beds upstairs."

My head shot in his direction. "A day or two?! We need to get back to the quarry."

"Look at us, Chris. We're both hurt and we're pissed at each other. I think we could use some time to cool off. They're not going anywhere without us."

I never liked to question "Merle Logic" because he was usually right.

"I don't see why you should be pissed off at me, but I see your point."

I kicked the front door behind me shut and walked into the living room. There were two couches, a recliner, and a huge entertainment system. For such an old house, the furniture was very modern. I dropped the backpack onto one of the couches and sat down next to it. After all of this, I would never take sitting down on a couch for granted ever again. I hadn't felt that comfortable in months.

Merle made his way into the kitchen and started going through the cupboards. Out of curiosity, I stood up and went to search with him. There was a long door labeled "pantry" off in the corner. It was pretty bare; these people either left in a hurry, or they were robbed. The only thing I could find sitting on the shelf was a few cans of sardines.

"Yuck," I said as I held one of the cans in front of my face.

"What did you find?"

I turned and handed him the can.

"You say yuck now, but wait till you're _reaaallly_ hungry."

"We'll see."

He set the can of putrid fish on the counter and continued his search. Underneath the sink, he found a lantern and pulled it out. While he continued to dig around the kitchen, I went upstairs to see if I could find anything of interest. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One of the bathrooms was in a very large master bedroom. I could tell that it was an old house purchased by a couple who had never lived in the countryside; everything had been remodeled to look more modern. That kind of thing didn't work well in those old houses. As I walked into the master bedroom, I noticed something odd: the bed was made, and everything was remarkably clean. It was like they were expecting to come back to their home right away. If they only knew.

I found an extra pair of boots in the master closet. I sat down in the middle of it and laced them up. There was a lot of different clothing inside as well. It was a welcomed sight, seeing as Merle and I probably smelled like body odor and rotten corpses.

I walked into the bathroom and flicked on the light. I poked around a bit, flicked the light switch again, and walked out. Before leaving the room, I turned back towards the bathroom.

_Did that light really just come on? Did I really just not notice?!_

I took gigantic strides over to the small room and flicked the switch again. Sure enough, the powder room lit up like Christmas.

"Oh my god! Merle! MERLE!"

I flicked the switch off again before he made it up. I've never seen or heard him run so fast. When he arrived, he had his gun drawn.

"What happened?"

I reached my hand back into the bathroom and hit the switch. The look on his face was priceless. I'd never seen anyone so happy to see electricity. He looked to his left and flicked another switch that was on the wall.

"How the hell?"

I walked to the middle of the room and jumped onto the large king sized bed.

"Generators maybe? I don't care. I'm just glad it's on."

Merle walked to the bathroom and stepped inside. Out of curiosity, I followed. He set his gun down on the counter and reached to open the glass door enclosing the shower. He put his hand on the faucet and turned it on. Water started to pour out from the shower head. I covered my mouth and gasped. It was the most exciting thing I'd seen in a very long time.

"Is it hot?"

He stood still with his hand pushing against the stream and smiled after a few moments.

"It's hot."

He immediately switched it off and picked his gun up from the counter.

"Let's figure out something to eat, then we'll shower afterwards."

"Sounds good to me!" I exclaimed excitedly.

I followed Merle down the steps of the house and out the front door. We walked into the woods and roamed around for a few hours. We left the woods disappointed. There was absolutely nothing to hunt.

"What now?" I asked.

We stood in front of the house in silence while Merle thought about what to do next. He lifted his head and looked around the area. He stopped when he saw the horse munching on what was left of the grass in the field.

"Oh, no! Merle, no!"

"You see anything else around here?"

I wrung my hands in front of me.

"Well, no, but it doesn't mean I'd like to eat that horse. I'm not _that_ hungry."

"You will be."

I crossed my arms and stared at the ground.

"This is terrible."

"No one said the end of the world would be fun. I'm not happy about it, but if I have to choose between our lives and that horse's, I'm gonna choose us."

I understood where he was coming from; it's not like we had a whole lot of options.

"Alright, I guess. Let's go."

He held his handless arm out in front of me.

"Go in the house. I'll take care of it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Go on in."

I slowly turned and went up the steps to the front porch. Before I entered the house, I turned back and watched Merle as he coaxed the horse out of the corral. He had it by its halter, and his gun was pointed between its eyes. Before he shot, he looked up at me and flicked his wrist forward; signaling for me to get inside. I opened the door to the house and went to sit on one of the couches. I put my hands over my ears and waited.

Around ten minutes later, Merle walked into the house. I uncovered my ears and waited for him to say something. I stood up and walked towards him.

"You need your knife?"

"Go look out the window."

I cocked my head to the side and stared at him quizzically before pulling back the curtains on the window and peeking between the boards nailed to them. There was the horse in the field, still munching on grass. A smile spread across my face as I turned towards him.

"The bastard gets to live…for now," said Merle.

I walked up and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'll go get those sardines ready."


	33. Chapter 33-Forest Vermin

I swung my boot forward and kicked open the barn door. With my pistol drawn, I cautiously walked inside and looked around. It was loaded with hay, and there were a few stalls with tack inside.

"Coast is clear."

I turned back and waited for Merle to enter. Since he was minus an appendage, we thought it safer that I went in first. My injury was a little less serious. He stepped in and stared up at the high roof over our head. I walked over to the hay stack and pulled a bale out.

"That horse is probably starving."

Merle laughed, "So are we. Best fatten it up now."

I placed my hand on my hip and cocked my head to the side. There was no way he'd kill that horse for food. What a charade he was putting on! He walked over to the other side of the barn while I pulled the bales apart.

"Look what we got here!"

I turned towards him and watched as he pulled the cover off of an ATV.

"That could definitely come in handy," I said. "We'd be able to get to the quarry fast."

He nodded and threw his leg over the seat.

"No keys."

"They're probably in the house. We'll look for them later."

I walked over and rested my elbows on the back of the four wheeler.

"How are you feeling today?" I asked.

"Right as rain, baby girl. If we find them keys, I say we leave in el mañana."

"Sounds good to me."

He got off of the vehicle and stood next to it for a bit. He leaned against it and stared outside of the barn. The wind was starting to pick up, and the horse was starting to spook.

"Storm's rollin' in."

I walked out of the barn and towards the pen where the horse stayed. It seemed to trust us for some odd reason. Maybe because we were the first people it had seen since its owner abandoned it. I lead it back to the barn and secured it inside one of the stalls with some hay. After I'd locked it up, I'd noticed Merle outside of the barn chewing on a piece of hay and staring up at the sky. It reminded me of Daryl. I stood in the doorway and looked with him. Above us, we could hear the thunder start to roll in. The sky turned darker by the minute.

"Better get inside," he said.

He motioned for me to go ahead and he locked up the barn behind me. Just as I opened the front door, the rain started to pour down from the sky and soak everything in sight. Merle ran up the steps and flicked his arms to remove the rain water from his skin. We stared out on the fields and watched it come down.

"Now what?" I asked.

"There's probably something to do inside. When it lets up, we'll go look for something to hunt."

"Hopefully there's something out there today."

He nodded and led the way inside the house. The inside was dark and gloomy. We agreed to leave the lights off until nightfall when we would really need them.

I kicked off my boots and sat down on one of the couches. Merle went into the kitchen and poked around. I knew that he knew there was nothing to eat, but he'd check the fridge and cupboards over and over again; I guess our habits hadn't changed much since the world ended.

I rested my head on the edge of the couch and looked towards the entertainment center. There was a DVD player, a large television, and a book case full of movies. I stood up and started to thumb through the various movies sitting on the shelves.

"Hey Merle!"

He peeked around the corner.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna watch a movie? It's our last day here. Might as well enjoy it while we can."

"They got any porn?"

I lowered my eyes and looked up at him. "I'm not watching porn."

"You're a real spoil sport sometimes, you know that? What they got?"

Merle knelt down next to me and started to look over the titles.

"What you in the mood for?" He asked.

"Probably a comedy."

"Oooh, Deliverance!"

"That's hardly a comedy."

"I thought it was pretty funny."

"You would."

Eventually, we settled on The Big Lebowski. I wasn't a huge fan, but it was still better than Deliverance; especially since we were currently living in the middle of nowhere. We kept the volume down and the curtains closed. Merle pushed the couch up closer to the television so we would be able to hear. I rested my head on his shoulder. Every once in a while, I would hear him giggle at the television. The laughter calmed me and allowed me to fall asleep while he watched.

I woke up just as the credits finished rolling across the screen. Instead of leaning against Merle, my head was laying on one of the sofa cushions. I lifted myself and looked around. He wasn't in the living room or the kitchen. I stood up and walked towards the stairs.

"Merle! You up there?"

Silence. He must have been outside. I put my boots on and stepped out the door. I saw that the rain had slowed to a mist. The gutters on the house spewed water out on to the wet grass in front of the house. My hands wrapped around my shoulders in an attempt to fight the chill in the air. I looked around the area and noticed that the barn door was cracked. I walked up and pushed it open. There he was kneeling next to the ATV.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

I jumped a bit when he heard my voice.

"Found the keys. Doesn't start."

"Crap. Guess we're walking back after all."

"Don't say that yet. I'm sure I could fix it."

I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He hadn't been around his motorcycle in days, but I could still smell the exhaust that clung to his skin like musty cologne.

"I'm sure you could too."

He turned his head back towards me.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"No," I sighed. "I'm just restless. I'm ready to go back to the quarry."

"You don't like playin' house with me?"

"It's not that," I laughed. "I wouldn't mind having a change of clothes that were, you know…mine. That, and I miss your brother…and the kids."

He lifted his head from his work, and looked back towards me. I removed my arms from his broad shoulders and stepped back a bit.

"The kids? You mean Carol and Lori's brats?"

I stomped my foot down and put my hands on my hips. "They're not brats! They're good kids. It's a shame they have to grow up in a world like this."

"Don't worry, I doubt they'll be doing much "growing up" if you know what I mean."

I sighed, frustrated and turned back towards the barn door. He stood up and stepped towards me.

"Where you goin'?"

I turned before walking through the doorway.

"You're a real douche sometimes, you know that?"

I pushed the door open and walked out. Halfway to the front porch, I realized he was following behind me.

"What is it with you and bustin' my balls lately? What are you so angry about?"

"You, Merle. I'm angry about you. We're in a shitty predicament, I realize that, but it doesn't allow for negativity, and it sure doesn't allow for a drug habit."

"You still goin' on about that? That reminds me, you should let me have some of it."

"I should? Why?"

"You really don't listen, do ya? Withdrawal. I can feel it coming."

I narrowed my eyes and took a couple of steps towards him.

"How have you been coping with it these past couple of days?"

"You're an awful sound sleeper…"

I shook my head at him and looked at the ground.

"Unbelievable! You know what? Have fun with your drugs. Hope they're worth it."

I turned and started my walk back up towards the house.

"Before you fell down that hill, what did you say to me? Something about what Shane said?"

I stopped when I got to the top of the steps. He was changing the subject to get him off the hook. I didn't even care at this point.

"Shane said that I was a version of Daryl that you can fuck. I'm starting to think he was right."

His fist clenched and pulled at the railing of the porch; nearly pulling it out of its foundation. The expression on my face changed from anger to fear. He took notice and loosened his grip.

"Said that, did he? You believe him?"

I realized that I'd been holding my breath the entire time. My face felt hot. I released my breath and thought of the best way to answer. "No, I don't. You're just frustrating me, that's all," I said calmly.

When he didn't respond, I walked back into the house. I went and sat on the stairs with my face in my hands. I heard the screen door squeak open and shut. Merle's boots tapped across the tile flooring and softened when they reached the carpet. I heard them stop in front of me. His large fingers ran through my hair and rested on my shoulder.

"I'm tired of fighting with you Chris. I got enough to worry about; I don't wanna worry about losin' you."

I pulled my face away from my hands and acknowledged him. He looked very tired.

"I'm not leaving till I get bit and die."

"Weren't you just preachin' about negativity?"

"Weren't you just preaching about arguing?"

He smiled and held his hand out. I took it, and he helped me up from the stairs.

"I'm gonna get that four wheeler workin' so we can get the hell on up outta here."

"Need any help?"

"Nah. But I'll probably be needin' a shower when I get done."

"I don't know, there's something about a dirty mechanic that drives me crazy."

"You sure you're not from the south?" He laughed.

"Just my relatives. I have an uncle Phil that lives in a small town around here. I'm not really sure where. I haven't seen him since my aunt passed away. That was a while ago."

"I see. Well, you find something to busy yourself while I'm out there."

"I was thinking that maybe I could go and try to find some squirrels."

"With your bum arm?"

I raised an eyebrow at him and looked down at his missing hand.

"Shush. Go on out," he said.

I giggled and picked my pistol up from the kitchen counter on my way out of the house. Before leaving the property, I kissed Merle goodbye and patted the horse on the head. It had been gleefully running around its moist open field and rolling around in the puddles. It must have been awhile since it last rained in that particular area.

I walked into the wet forest and watched as small drops continued to fall from the grey skies. There were large birds singing in the trees and bathing themselves with the water falling from the leaves. It had crossed my mind to kill a bird for food, but I would try to find a squirrel first. Daryl had once told me that they were the vermin of the forest; that made me feel a little less terrible about killing them for a meal.

After a bit of walking, I finally saw what I was looking for: a big fat squirrel with a large, bushy tail. It sure was fat for the circumstances.

_"Maybe nature just isn't affected the same way we are. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any walker animals." _

While I was day dreaming about squirrel-walkers I noticed our dinner getting away from me. I quickly took after it. It led me through bushes and over small creeks. Whatever it was after, it was something special.

_"It's probably got a stash of nuts somewhere." _

The small furry creature led me to a clearing in the middle of the forest. Smack dab in the middle, I saw what it ran all this way for. It wasn't a stash of acorns. There was a small girl. From the looks of her, she'd been dead for weeks. The squirrel approached the body and bit a small chunk out of her arm. It sat there and chewed like it was normal. I felt sick to my stomach. The animals were low on resources; they were fighting for food, just like we were.

I looked at the remains of the little girl. I saw that she had many similar pieces missing from her like she'd been part of a squirrel buffet. Her white dress was stained red with her own blood. Her torso had been ripped apart; she'd served as a meal for both forest vermin and the dead. I walked around her and looked at her face. Her eyes were shut, and there was a bullet wound in her head.

My eyes started to pool with tears. The rain started to come down heavy again. Above her head where her hand lie open was a small pistol.

I hated this world more than ever.


	34. Chapter 34-Want Not

The next morning, Merle woke me at dawn. He worked diligently on the ATV all afternoon and all evening. I'd only felt him in bed next to me for a couple of hours.

"It's up and running. We can go home now."

I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes.

"Home," I said as I smiled.

I threw the covers to the side and inched my way to the edge of the bed.

"It's a shame we have to leave this house," I said. "I'm going to miss this bed."

He leaned his arm on the bedroom wall. Instead of sticking his thumb in his belt loop like he normally would, he rested his empty wrist on his hip.

"Y'know, we _could _share that shower before we leave."

I stood up from the bed, and threw my shirt up over my head.

"Thought you'd never ask."

He grinned from ear to ear and followed me into the bathroom.

* * *

Merle got dressed as I dried my hair. The squirrel that I had brought to the house the night before had done us both a lot of good. We would still be hungry later that day, but for now we had a large burst of energy. I only wished I had a hot cup of coffee to greet me in the morning.

I knew we wouldn't be coming back to the house, but I placed my wet towel back on the rack and made the bed anyway. There was something about cleaning a house that made me feel somewhat normal. Merle always laughed when I did this, but I have suspicions that he'd never cleaned a house in his life and wouldn't understand.

After I'd put on some fresh clothing I'd found in the master closet, I met him downstairs. We stood in the living room for a bit and looked around.

"I might actually miss this place," he said.

"Me too. It's a neat house."

"We never did see what was in the basement."

"I'm not opening that," I laughed.

He put his arm around my shoulders and led me to the front yard. The four-wheeler was pulled up front. All of our things were already bungeed to the back. Before I got on, I threw the horse more hay and ran my fingers through its mane while it ate. Merle stood at the gate of the corral with his arms crossed; observing my behavior. When he cleared his throat, I knew he was ready to get going. I patted the horse one last time and walked towards Merle.

"It's a shame we can't bring him with."

"Would if we could, but we'd never be able to take care of it. Let's get going."

I nodded and walked towards the ATV. I looked at the controls for a minute and saw that the accelerator was on the right side. Merle was missing his right hand.

"How the hell did you get this out here?" I asked.

"Wasn't easy, but I did it."

I threw my leg over the front of the vehicle and motioned for him to hop on.

"Now look who's riding bitch," I said with a smile on my face.

He shook his head and got on behind me. I turned the key and started it. We were off. I headed up the driveway to the farm; once we got to the road, I craned my head back towards Merle.

"Which way do we go?"

He looked left and right a few times before making up his mind.

"Better go right. We came from the left. We can probably circle around the city."

"Gotcha."

I awkwardly moved my arms to turn us right and we headed down the road at full speed. The roads were fairly empty, save for a few corpses strewn about here and there. The ride took for what seemed like an eternity. It made me wish we had the motorcycle; we would be going so much faster. But then again, Merle would never ride on the back of his own bike. A few hours in, we finally came across familiar terrain. I saw the driveway leading up to the horrid old woman's house and the small clearing in the brush that lead up to the waterfall. Merle asked if I wanted to stop, but I knew Peter's body was there. I didn't want to see him again; no matter how dead he was.

We stopped at the gas station and filled the tank of the ATV. While Merle pumped, I stood and watched for geeks. I still wasn't able to use my bow; I only wished that I had a silencer for my pistol. If anything did come for us, I would only attract more.

"Alright, that should do it!"

"Good."

The smile that I saw earlier that morning never left his face. I could tell he was excited about getting back to his brother. I started the four-wheeler once again and we were on our way. My heart started to beat anxiously as we reached the entrance to the camp. It seemed so long since we were here last. I couldn't wait to swim in the lake and bullshit around the campfire. The kids were probably eager for their next biology lesson.

When I reached the top of the quarry, I stopped the ATV and looked down. Something wasn't right. There was a pile of burnt walkers in one of the nearby grass fields. Strangest of all: there was no sign of the RV, Daryl's truck, the motorcycle, or our tents. My breaths became small and panicked. I looked back at Merle; he had the same expression on his face.

"Go on down there."

I pressed my thumb in on the accelerator and moved us down to the main campsite. I stopped us underneath the tree that Merle usually kept the bike. I got off and looked around. I noticed the tire tracks of the bike leading up to the back of Daryl's truck and disappearing.

"Looks like he loaded up your bike," I said.

He didn't say a word. He didn't have to. The expression on his face was a complicated mixture of sickness and anger. I reached out and touched his arm; he threw me off and walked around the campsite. I noticed that there was garbage thrown about the site. Lori and Carol would have made sure it was clean. They left in a hurry. But why?

I walked around the area where the RV was parked and noticed that there were bullet casings lying on the ground. I picked one up and examined it. A blood stain in the dirt caught my attention while I knelt there.

Out of curiosity, I walked along the trees on the edge of the forest. I saw many footprints that seemed randomly placed in the dirt.

"They were attacked," I whispered.

I looked up and saw Merle staring at the ground where our tents used to be. He lowered himself to one of the logs we had placed around the fire. I felt terrible for him. I missed Daryl, but nowhere near as much as Merle did. He looked absolutely heartbroken.

Something just over the horizon caught my eye; there was something poking up out of the ground. I stood up and saw what they were: crosses. My stomach dropped. I didn't want to, but I knew I had to go up there. My feet drug up the steep incline to the gravesite. I stopped and stared at them. I knelt down next to them and placed my hand on top of the nearest one. I looked over my shoulder and was met with Merle's gaze. He shot up from the sitting arrangement and stormed over. As he stood over the graves, his face turned pale. I hid my face in my arms. I didn't want him to see how upset I was. I heard him drop to his knees and start digging.

"Merle, what are you doing?"

He didn't respond.

"Merle!"

He stopped and slammed his fist to the ground.

"What the hell do you think I'm doing? I'm making sure my brother isn't dead!"

I was powerless to stop him, so I sat and watched him continue to defile a grave. He was breaking a sweat and panting frantically. I looked back towards the campsite and then back towards him.

"Merle, Daryl isn't down there."

"Shut up, you don't know!"

I scooted towards him.

"Yes I do! Daryl is _not_ down there. Daryl is alive!"

He stopped for a moment and looked up at me. I saw something I never thought I'd see outside of my nightmares; there were tears in his eyes. I pulled his hand away from the loose earth and pushed the dirt back into the grave.

"Daryl is stronger than this. You taught him how to survive. If he was dead, the motorcycle and possibly Daryl's truck would still be here. What reason would they have to take them? They have enough vehicles _and_ the RV. I think Daryl still thinks we're alive, or at least you. Why would he take the time to load the bike if he knew you were dead?"

He stared back down at the graves.

"They could have waited," he said.

"I'm sure he wanted to stay, but they probably didn't have a choice. Look at this place! They were overrun!"

He wiped the sweat from his face; his eyes never strayed away from the graves. I stood and looked over the land.

"What should we do now?" I asked.

He grabbed my arm and pulled himself up.

"We go find them, then we kill that cop."

He walked around me and made his way back down to the ATV. I followed behind him. He sat down on the back and stared straight ahead. He seemed calm on the outside, but on the inside, I knew he was smashing the sheriff's face into a brick wall.

* * *

The sun had nearly gone away by the time we got back to the farm house. Merle thought it was best that we go back since we didn't really have anywhere else to go. He was mostly silent on the way back, except for telling me to stop so he could pee.

I parked the four-wheeler back into the barn and pocketed the keys. When I locked up the barn for the night, I turned to see him sitting on the porch fuming. I wanted to comfort him, but I figured it was better to let him have his space before I moved in.

I walked up the steps and stood next to him.

"You hungry? I think there's some sardines and squirrel left."

"You know there's not," he responded.

I didn't, but I wasn't going to argue with him. He was out for blood right now; I didn't want to be that blood. I patted his shoulder and kissed him on the forehead before going inside the house. I flicked on the kitchen light and leaned my elbows on one of the counters. I thought of Daryl with the others; all of them struggling to survive out on the open road. Where would they go off to? Were they safe? Was _Daryl _safe? These were probably all of the things running through Merle's mind out on the front porch. I heard his boots travel down the steps and out into the front yard.

_"He's probably going to go for a walk to clear his mind." _

In the hopes of finding something we'd missed before, I searched the kitchen for the umpteenth time in the few days we'd been in the house. I knew there was nothing there, but I still held on to the small hopes I had left that I'd find something, anything.

As I got on my hands and knees to peek into the bottom of the pantry, I heard a gunshot ring out from the front yard. By this time, this didn't shock me anymore. I was curious, but I also figured that it was just a walker that had wandered into the farm. I stood up and checked the wood nailed across the windows to see if they were still secure. There were some left over planks next to the front door; I got them ready in case the gunshot attracted more geeks. I opened the front door and looked through the screen. I saw Merle on the ground fiddling with something large. The screen door was distorting my vision, so I opened it as well.

When I saw what he was doing, I regretted opening the screen. Merle was on the ground gutting the horse. I ran down the steps and stood next to him.

"What are you doing?! I thought you were joking!"

He slowly turned his head towards me and narrowed his eyes.

"You gonna help me, or wait for the walkers to smell this thing?"

I hesitated for a few moments before running inside for an extra knife and a trash bag.


	35. Chapter 35-When I'm down

I'm going to start off this week by saying that the review of the week goes to Brazen Hussy for the review left for chapter 34. Why? I have a pretty crude sense of humor, and that was funny XD (Regardless of whether or not it was a joke).

So, from now on, review of the week is a thing.

I was also very pleased to see some new names showing up in my email. Especially for reviews. I appreciate you guys taking the time to tell me what you think :D

I'm also pleased to report that I recently purchased Norman Reedus VIP tickets for Chicago Comic Con. It's still a bit far off, but if anyone has questions they'd like me to ask either Reedus or Rooker (*Squee!*) I'd be happy to try to get them to answer them. Because you don't meet those guys and _not_ ask questions!

Until next time, Survival Instinct comes out tomorrow, so there may or may not be two chapters this week haha.

Ta ta, darlings!

* * *

I passed by numerous neighborhoods and towns filled with chaos in my travels away from the college. My hands were stiff and my knuckles had turned a ghostly white miles ago due to the extreme grip I had on the steering wheel. I saw people running from the cannibals; I saw the cannibals bite into their flesh. Entire families wiped out by a mass of grey-skinned monsters! I kept my doors locked on my eyes focused on the road in front of me. I was terrified of what I would see if I dared to turn my head and look.

It had been a half day after leaving the campus. The sun was coming back up over the horizon to greet me for the day. I didn't come across much traffic until I'd driven up a ramp exit and onto a nearby highway. It was backed up as far as the eye could see. I was almost convinced that it went further than the horizon and wrapped around the Earth. I sat in the hot Georgia sun in my small shitty car and waited for the line to move. I waited an hour before realizing that we weren't going anywhere. To my left, I saw very few cars going back into the city. I was tempted to jump out and tell them to stop, but I was afraid of what was outside.

When I looked forward again, I noticed people running for their lives; weaving their bodies in between the cars parked in their way. I craned my neck to get a better look at what they were running from. Part of me knew what it was; the other part of me was still curious. There was the dead running for their meal. My heart started to race as I witnessed mothers and their children being torn apart by these abominations of science and flesh.

I screamed as one of them jumped on the hood of my car and beat at the window. I promptly threw the car into reverse; rear ending the car behind me in the process. The tires spun as I shifted back into drive and sped onto the median. I swerved around the people running into the grass and ran over dead bodies. Behind me, I saw runners reaching out for the back of the car; begging me to stop and save them. I would have if I wasn't such a coward.

My foot was led against the gas pedal. I stayed on the median for several miles before reaching a police blockade that had failed miserably. Some of the cannibals were roaming around aimlessly in front of and behind the gates put up by APD. I eased the car back onto the road and drove through the gate to the other side of the blockade. The road in front of me was completely clear of any debris, or cannibals. I stopped the car and looked back at the chaos unfolding behind me.

_"I need to get the hell out of Georgia. I need to get home!" _

I reached into my bag and pulled out my cellphone. I dialed my mother's number. My fingers started to tremble and my breaths became short as I waited for her to answer.

"Hello? Christa?!"

"Mom, are you okay?"

"Yes, we're on our way to Pie Town. How did you know something was wrong?"

"It's happening here too."

She paused. "Get to Uncle Phillip's house. Stay there. After we're at the shelter, your father's coming for you."

"I can do that."

"Christa, baby, don't be scared. You do whatever you have to do to get home. I know you'l- _chhhhk _fi- _chchchckkk!" _

"Mom?!"

"W-_chhhck!" _

"MOM?! No! I need you right now! MOOM!"

The phone disconnected the call. I tried many times afterwards to call her again. I cursed at the phone as if it would understand and connect me to my family. I tossed it into the passenger seat and rested my head against the steering wheel. As I cried my terrified little eyeballs out, I heard another vehicle come up behind me. I looked up slightly to see an old blue and white pick- up truck carrying two men hustling down the freeway to safety.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and watched as the ancient piece of junk sped into the distance and disappeared.

_"This isn't going to beat me. I'm going home." _

I gripped the shift and moved it back into drive. As I followed in the footsteps of the unknown travelers, I realized that I had just lived my last day of ease and normality.

* * *

The farm was infested with walkers munching on the remains of the dead horse. Merle and I stayed inside the entire day and stared at the walls. Every now and then, I would get up to peek between the boards nailed to the windows. Outside, there was a large group of them crowded around the only source of food available to them at the moment. There wasn't much left of it after Merle was done with it. He had me place the meat he retrieved from it into several different bags to be placed in the freezer for later consumption.

More terrifying than what was outside was my lover. If he wasn't staring at his disfigurement, he was stabbing his knife into the living room walls and carving the words "Kill the sheriff". I turned away from him and stared back down at the carpeted floor.

The house was completely silent and still. It didn't creek or moan in the wind; it was as if it too was afraid that the walkers would descend down its hallways and terrorize the people inside. All we could hear was the growls and hisses of the dead just outside the door. I tightened my grip around my pistol every time I heard them step onto the front porch. Merle seemed unaffected by the noise or the possibility of the geeks getting in the house. Maybe he knew something I didn't. Or maybe he just wasn't afraid anymore.

I looked down at my hands. I was only twenty-three, but my hands looked like they belonged to a forty year old. I un-wrapped my swollen wrist and examined it. It was still very sore; my eyes traveled up the top of my hand and rested on the finger nail missing from my index finger.

It wasn't until he was very close that I noticed Merle sitting in front of me and watching me examine my beaten hand. He wrapped his fingers around my palm and kissed the top of my hand. As he lowered it, he looked down. He saw my bloody scabbed finger with the nail trying its hardest to grow back.

"You wanna talk about it yet?" He said quietly.

I towards the front door and spotted the shadows of the walkers moving behind the boards and curtains.

"I don't know," I whispered. "It seems like it happened so long ago. Is there any point?"

His sorrowful eyes met mine.

"Actually, I'm more interested in knowing that you're okay," I said.

He looked away and shrugged.

"You haven't said much since…the horse."

"What's there to say? They left us to fend for ourselves. I feel betrayed. By my own brother…never thought I'd see the day."

I reached out and ran my hand through the little bit of hair he had on his head.

"He didn't betray you. He did what he had to do so he could see you again. That's all."

He looked back up at me.

"I think you're wrong, but I hope you're right."

We heard the walkers begin to pound at the door. I pulled myself in tight towards him.

"We're fine," he said. "They're not getting through that door."

I my body began to quiver and shake.

"Merle," I whispered softly. "I'm scared."

He let go of me and stood up. I watched my comfort leave me alone in the dark living room and climb the stair case. The banging seemed to get louder as my fear became stronger. At this point, I was mentally exhausted and ready to throw myself out to the walkers. This world was not being kind to us and our struggles.

Moments later, Merle descended from the stair case holding something in his hand. He approached me and knelt. My heart dropped when he opened his palm. It was the last vile of cocaine. There was a bit missing from the top. It was my fault for putting my complete trust in him.

My eyes started to swell up. "Merle…," I whispered. It was the only thing I could manage to say.

"It'll make you feel better," he said softly. "Ya need to get your mind off of what's goin' on outside."

"This isn't the way."

He slipped the vile into the crease of his thumb and reached up to touch me.

"Do this for me, Chris. You said you trusted me. I'm just tryin' to make you feel better."

I looked back towards the door, then back to Merle. I was suspicious of him, but I didn't want to start another argument about it.

I nodded at him reluctantly. It had been a long time since high school, but I was suddenly reminded of those cheesy videos about peer pressure.

Merle opened the bottle and poured some of the white powder across his finger and held it up to my face. I stared at it, then back up at him.

"Umm…how?"

He started to laugh. "You really are an innocent, aren't ya baby girl?"

I lifted one of my eyebrows at the drugs.

"Close up one side of your nose, and inhale. That's it," he said.

"Merle, I _really_…"

"Just do it."

Unfortunately, once again, I did what Merle asked me and took the line off of his finger. Almost instantly, I felt my eyes widen, my heart beat out of control, and the room seemed to get smaller. As I was discovering this new found sensation, Merle did the same as I'd done. I rested my head back against the seat of the couch and stared up towards the ceiling. I felt his hand run up my torso and to the back of my head.

The sensation was overwhelming. Time felt like it stood still; the shadows at the door seemed to get taller. I watched as Merle's eyes turned a bloody red; his finger-tips grew to points. He pulled my face in closer to mine. I felt as if I was being ensnared by the devil himself.

When I awoke from the absurdities I had experienced, the living room was pitch black, and I could no longer hear the walkers banging on the door. I sat up and looked around. Merle was not there. I found my shirt and pants tossed in random places about the stair well and kitchen. As I flicked on one of the lights in the hallway, I'd noticed that my fingers were stained bright red. At first, I panicked, but then soon realized it was too thick and oily to be blood.

I vaguely remembered Merle lying between my legs and the red glow of his eyes as he stared down at me. I shook my head and walked upstairs to find him. In the master bedroom, the light was on. However, he was not there. I walked further into the room and peeked into the bathroom. One of the drawers to the vanity was open; there was a tube of bright red lipstick sitting on the counter. He had left a message on the mirror.

_Christa, that was the last of the blow. I'm leaving for a while. I will come back. DO NOT LEAVE THIS HOUSE. _

At the bottom, there was a crudely drawn heart. I placed my hand on top and smeared it.

_"That's why he wanted me to do it with him. He wanted to leave." _

I stared at the words _DO NOT LEAVE THIS HOUSE. _

_"Where could he have gone?" _

Behind the words in the mirror, I'd noticed the moonlight peeking in from between the boards on the window. I looked outside and saw that the barn was open and the ATV was gone. I couldn't have left if I wanted to.

My head pulsated and my throat felt dry. I felt nauseated at the idea of staying in the house all alone until he decided to return.

_"I'll give him three days. If he doesn't come back, I'm going to find him." _

I turned away from the window and looked at one of the larger bedroom walls. There was another message written there.

_Silver equals chill, but that suits me just fine._

_ I'm shyly sipping water, while he drinks whole jugs of wine. _

_ He likes all kinds of women, and I, I only hate men. _

_ He marvels at all things new to him. _

_ And I only wait for all things in this sick world to end. _

I stared down at my stained fingers and imagined Merle speeding away from the house.


	36. Chapter 36-City on Fire

During the time I spent waiting for Merle to return, I believe the first day was the most difficult. I walked up and down the house's large hallways singing songs that I'd remembered from a lifetime ago. My fingers ran up and down the walls as I walked; my voice echoed down to the home's second upstairs bathroom and shot back towards me. I'd opened up one of the smaller bedrooms and walked in. It was a baby's room. The stale smell that enveloped the small room nearly knocked me off my feet. I opened the window on the other side of the room to remove the smell.

Although the crib no longer held an infant, part of me felt its presence. I rested my hand on the safety bar of the crib and stared down into the pink mess of blankets. I could feel it staring back at me. In reality, I knew there was nothing there, but when I closed my eyes, I swore I could hear it giggle and cry. I took a step back from the small bed when I realized what I'd been imagining.

"I need to get out of this house!"

I looked down at the lipstick that was still stuck underneath my finger-nails.

"_Merle told you not to leave!" _

My voice and my inner monologue argued back and forth like this for the remainder of the day. I'm still not sure if it was the drugs from the day before, or if cabin fever was starting to take its toll on me.

I continued to cook the horse meat that Merle had me set aside. I was rather grateful at this point. He had set everything up for me before he left. He knew he was going to leave my side at one point or another.

As I chewed on a piece of the cooked horse, I stared between the boards nailed to the windows onto the moonlight covered lawn. A few walkers still busied themselves with the horse's carcass, but most of them moved on. I guess they aren't quite as brainless as I thought they were.

Later on in the evening, I found myself restless for the second night in a row. I lay in the California king sized bed in the master bedroom staring at the ceiling. Next to me, I felt the emptiness that should have been Merle's warm and comforting body. I rolled over and stared at the empty space; I saw him stare and smile back at me. I shook my head in disbelief and opened my eyes when I was ready to face my fears. He had disappeared from my sight. I knew he had never been there in the first place, but it was comforting to see his bulldog grin.

I grasped the pillow from his side of the bed and embraced it. It smelled like him; for a moment, it made me smile. Until I realized how alone I really was.

"I hope you're okay," I whispered into nothing.

I sat up in the bed and wiped stray drops from my eyes. An idea sprang into my head. I picked out a green hoodie from the closet with San Francisco imprinted on the front and pulled it on over my head. I walked down the hallway and pushed the baby room's window open further. My arms quivered, and my wrist ached as I pushed myself up to the window sill and threw a leg over. Once on the roof top, I was looking down at the lawn and the walkers roaming about in the cool night. I climbed up as high as I could to get the best look; off in the distance, I could see the tops of some of the buildings in Atlanta. I sat up on the roof the entire night; on watch for Merle's return.

Upon sunrise, I lowered myself back down to the open window and went back inside the house for a bathroom break. After I fulfilled my needs for the bathroom and refreshments, I got right back on top of the roof. This time, I brought my bow with me. Since my wrist was on its way to being healed, I figured it wouldn't hurt to pick off some of the dead in the front yard so I wouldn't get rusty. My wrist twitched and quivered a bit as I pulled the bow back for the first time in days. The arrow launched towards a geek's head and missed by inches. It slowly turned around to see what had come so close to its head; I sat on the roof and pouted. I loaded another arrow to the bow and tried again. This time, the arrow struck it through its right temple.

"Yes!"

I excitedly picked up another arrow and pulled back the bow. Just as I was getting ready to fire, a loud explosion erupted behind me and startled me into missing the shot. I quickly turned behind me and saw a large, black cloud rising up from the city. I stood up straight on the roof and steadied myself on the chimney.

As I watched the smoke and fire rise to the blue sky, I thought of Merle's body cooking in the fire.

"Oh, God!"

I hurriedly slid down the roof and back inside the house. I got dressed and packed faster than lightening could strike the earth. With my bow wrapped around my torso, my pistol strapped to my hip, and my knife snug in my boot, I set out into the woods towards Atlanta; retrieving my arrows on the way.

* * *

The source of the explosion was easy to follow through the trees; although I fretted at the idea of going back into the walker-dusted city, I was eager to find out whether or not Merle had been blown up.

The forest was remarkably quiet. I heard no walkers, no birds, and no squirrels. It was as if they too had heard the explosion and made a run for it. That may very well have been true in the animal's case, but eventually I'd come across the dead walking towards the explosion. The noise had attracted them.

"_Shit! I have to get there before they do!" _

I walked behind the geeks so I could get around them. The army of the dead seemed to go on for an eternity as I tried to find a way around them. Finally, I had come across one of the main roads leading into the city. Against my better judgment, I made my way down the road rather than walking through the trees.

By this time, the sun and heat worked together in full swing. I stopped on the side of the road to pull the green hoodie up over my head and toss it aside. Since I had counted on finding Merle or the ATV, I hadn't brought any water with me. As I rested my palms on my knees, I wished that I had.

I straightened my back and continued towards my destination to the city on fire. When I was almost halfway there, a noise caught my attention from the trees on the side of the road. There was a tiny amount of movement underneath one of the large oak trees in the forest. I pulled my bow over my head and approached cautiously. My heart and stomach dropped when I saw what was lying underneath: it was Jim. He was covered in sweat and his skin looked nearly blue.

"Jim?" I cooed. "Jim…are you okay?"

I got closer to him and kneeled. I looked around before attempting to communicate with him again.

"Jim?" I barely whispered.

Suddenly, a burst of breath erupted from this lungs; his large dark eyes stared back at me. I quickly pulled my bow back and readied myself for him to attack me.

"Chris…"

I could barely make out what he'd said.

"Jim...are you alright?"

I small grin turned up on one side of his face.

"I know you ain't blind."

I nodded and tried my hardest to hold back my emotions. Jim was such a sweet man; it was difficult to see him deteriorate in front of my eyes.

"The others?"

He coughed and wheezed as he inhaled. "I told them to leave me here. I would have been a danger to the group."

I placed my hand on his.

"I'm so sorry, Jim."

"Everything happens for a reason. I wasn't meant to go on with the others. Don't be sorry for me….I can see my wife and son now…..don't be…sorry."

He started to close his eyes and drift off to sleep.

I reached up and tapped his cheek.

"Jim, don't go now! Please?"

His eyes shot back open; his slow gaze met my eyes.

"They _huuuuh _went into Atlanta. To the CDC. Go there. You need Daryl. He _huuh_ was worried about you two."

"You didn't happen to see Merle come by here, did you?"

He slowly lifted up his arm and pointed. "He's behind you."

I turned back quickly; excited to see him. There was nothing there. The smile that had erupted on my face dropped again.

"Jim…you're seeing things. He's not here with us."

"Could…have sworn…"

I held his hand and looked at his face.

"Do you want me to stay here with you?"

He shook his head. "I can't be responsible…."

I gripped his hand tighter. As I looked over his exhausted body, I heard a vehicle coming down the road. I stood up and turned to see the same large truck that Merle and I had ran away from days earlier.

"Get out of here," Jim whispered.

I looked toward him once again before darting into the woods and hiding up inside one of the trees. I watched the truck stop where I'd just been standing. A man got out of the passenger's side and looked down at Jim. I couldn't make out his features; I could barely hear what he said to Jim. I was, however, able to hear the gunshot that ended Jim's life ring through the trees. I covered my mouth after I gasped out. The man stepped around Jim's slumped body and surveyed the area.

"_He looks kind of like someone I know." _

As a mess of jumbled thoughts danced around my head, the man of average height stepped further into the forest and stopped a few feet away from where I was hiding. I tightened my grip on the nearest branch and held my breath. He looked back and forth, and then retreated back to the truck. I sucked the air back into my sore lungs and hopped out of the tree.

I walked back towards the road and peeked behind the trees as the truck disappeared into the distance. Jim's body was slumped forward; there was a bullet hole smack dab in the middle of this forehead. Thank goodness his eyes were closed. I would have had even more trouble trying to get that image out of my head.

My journey continued in the ditch of the road just in case I had to make a hasty retreat back into the woods if the truck came back towards me.

* * *

It was near the end of the day when I finally reached the point of the explosion. The fire was still roaring when I arrived; the dead were running in and out of the flames. I walked closer towards the fire and stopped when the heat became too unbearable. I saw the burnt bodies of uniformed soldiers and civilians. Towards the edge of the fire, I saw a walker with a bolt sticking out of its forehead.

"They were here!"

I looked around me, trying to decide whether or not they had made it out alive.

"All of their vehicles are gone. They must have made it out."

I'd also noticed that the ATV was not in the area. I sighed in relief and stayed at the site for a bit, hoping that the explosion would have coaxed Merle to come this way. When I saw the walkers from the forest coming up the street, I got out of there. I ran a couple of blocks away from the explosion and found an abandoned car with a body inside. After I was sure it wasn't going to come back and bite me, I pulled it out of the driver's seat and set it down on the pavement. The steering wheel was heated from the sun; I pulled away from the curb as soon as it cooled.

I wasn't very familiar with the layout of Atlanta, since I had recently lived in only one section. The streets were littered with bodies and the occasional herd that I would speed away from in the opposite direction. I drove around the city looking for any sign of Merle and the rest of the group.

Frustrated and tired, I stopped on the side of the road and got out of the car. I crossed my arms above the door and set my chin on top. The wind blew dust across the road that seemed to disappear as soon as it saw the other side.

"Where could he be?"

As I looked around the area, I noticed a billboard above me advertising an army surplus store. I dropped my arms from the car and walked closer to the advert.

It had a busty lady in a red, white, and blue bikini holding an assault rifle and winking. The obnoxious shade of red that her lips used to be was faded out from the sun constantly beating down on her face. Even her long brown hair seemed faded to a sickly greyish yellow.

"That has Merle Dixon written all over it."

I studied the faded directions on the board and jumped back into the car.


	37. Chapter 37-Miss Me?

It's been a long couple of weeks. I missed you guys DX

I...am sooo very sad. As you all can imagine. Not about Andrea (looove comic Andrea, don't care much for the other one). Because of recent events, I thought I had Cherish all planned and finished. NOPE. Thanks, AMC. That's why I've been absent from the site. We are nowhere near the end of this story, but I like planning things ahead of time. So YES, I know how the story will end.

Anyway, this week I'm adding The Weak and the Powerless by A Perfect Circle to the list. If you read the lyrics along with the song, I'm sure you'd be able to figure out why.

Review of last week goes to icebabesfire ...Why? Because I wanted to start crying again when I read Ice's review...I'm still very sad about Merle.

Review of _this _week goes to Lilone1776 ...Why? Because new reader, that's why!

Review of _this this _week goes to Freckles the Wanderer...for the same reason as above.

* * *

The billboard I spotted was a few miles away from the actual location of the army surplus store. Unfortunately for me, the car did not have enough gas to take me the entire way. The car sputtered and spit as I pulled it off to the side of the road and rested my head on the steering wheel.

"Great. I'm going to be stuck here, and he'll already be back to the farm house."

I picked my bag up out of the backseat and climbed out of the car. On either side of the road, the dead roamed. I took a deep breath and started to walk down the steaming pavement. The sun above me was scorching. I started to wonder how the heat affected the undead (aside from making them smell worse). I stared down the road and saw my destination peeking out between two very tall and thick oak trees. I'd also noticed the large amount of walkers that could have potentially stopped me from reaching the surplus store.

_"You can do this." _

As I crouched and quickly moved down the road, the backpack slapped against my back with every step. A walker moved in front of my path; I quickly maneuvered behind a nearby car. I heard its feet shuffle and absent mindedly kick rocks across the road. I loaded my bow and peeked through the open car windows. It started to move in the opposite direction. Behind it, I saw the front of the store. In front of the store was a familiar looking ATV with supplies strapped to the back. My heart started to beat louder, and a smile swept across my face. I pulled my bow back and launched an arrow through the open windows; striking the walker down.

I crouched back down and made my way around the car. My trembling hand pulled the arrow from the walker's head and attached it back on my bow. None of the other walkers seemed to notice their fallen comrade.

When I'd finally reached the ATV, I looked to see if the keys were in the ignition.

_"They're gone. He must be around here somewhere." _

The front of the store looked like it had once seen a war; there were large holes in the concrete, peeling paint, and large burns reaching from the sidewalk to the roof. There were two by fours strewn across the parking lot and leaning up against the structure. There were many charred vehicles lying in pieces about the place.

Upon seeing the wreckage, I placed my bow back around my shoulders and picked out my gun. A small bell above the door to the shop announced my entrance; I shut the door behind me and looked around the inside of the store. The place had been torn apart. Tables knocked over, merchandise picked over, and small piles of freeze-dried food attracted all types of vermin.

The empty aisles in the store were eerily shadowed by the filtered sunlight coming in from the dark windows. In the middle of the store was a small makeshift campsite. It resembled the ones I'd seen the brothers put together many times before.

"Merle?" I called out. "Merle?! Are you here?"

I took a few steps forward, and heard something shuffle around in the store. I lifted my gun and looked around. There was no one.

_"Must be the mice." _

_ BANG! _

A loud gun shot rang out from the back of the store. I dropped to my stomach and lay face down on the ground. The merchandise left on the shelves above me shattered into pieces and showered over me.

I crawled underneath one of the tables and peeked up.

"Damn, oh, damn!" A young lady's voice cried out.

I lifted my head from underneath the table to see that she was struggling to reload her shotgun. I took this opportunity to aim my pistol at her.

"Put it down!"

She lifted it again and shot in my direction, once again missing horribly.

I bounded across the room and grabbed the gun from her.

"What the hell is your problem?!"

"Don't shoot me! I'm jus' tryin' to protect daddy's store till he gets back!"

Before I threw the shotgun aside, I took a good look at it. It was very similar to the one that Merle had at the camp. Definitely not the same one, but one that he would favor nonetheless.

"What was he doing leaving you here alone?"

"Can't live on dried food alone. So my daddy went to go find us something better to eat. He's been gone a few days…."

Her voice trailed off. As she stared down at the bare wood floors, I studied her face. She looked familiar. Her brown roots showed through her bleached blonde hair. A few of her fake red nails were chipped off and dirty. The thing I found most amazing was that she still took the time to do her makeup in the morning.

"Are you the lady on the billboard in town?"

Her head shot up and she grinned from ear to ear.

"O'course, darlin'! That would be me. I'm Emilie. You want an autograph or somethin'?"

It was killing me not to laugh at this point.

"No," I said as politely as I could manage. "I just came here to….well…that ATV outside. Did he come in here?"

Her smile disappeared and she started to pout.

"Oh, _him._ Yeah, he was in here. What a horrible man. Didn't even so much as look twice in my direction! Pretty stuck up for a man with one hand," she said as she examined her nails.

She sure thought highly of herself.

"That's because he's taken," I said as I crossed my arms.

"Oooh!" She exclaimed as she looked me up and down. "He's got low standards, doesn't he? When's the last time you fixed your hair?"

I shook my head as if I was trying to remove her stupidity from my memory. "Are you kidding me? Lady, don't you realize that we're in the middle of a full on apocalypse? No one cares about that bullshit anymore."

"_You_. Maybe."

"Look, I came here to find my man, not be talked down to by some ditsy bitch. You couldn't hit the sunny side of a barn."

She put her hands on her hips and pouted.

"You sound like the last jackass that came through here."

"Good. At least I know I don't sound as dumb as you. Now, when are you expecting him back?"

"I ain't expectin' him. He comes and goes as he pleases. Doesn't even tell me when he's leavin'."

"That's Merle for you. Well, I'm waiting here with you until he gets back, then we'll be out of your hair."

She started to rub her arm and stare down at the floor. "Oh, yeah. I suppose you two love birds would like to be on your way."

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Oh, not at all darlin'! You make your pretty little self at home and we'll just wait for that uh…Merle? Of yours to get back. 'Kay?"

I furrowed my brow. Something wasn't right about her. Especially since she had called me pretty right after calling me ugly.

"Uh huh," I nodded as I wore my suspicious face.

I crossed my legs and examined my pistol. Behind me, I could hear Emilie shuffling around. My brain couldn't handle another intelligent conversation with her; I kept my eyes on my gun. That is, until my brain realized that it had made a fatal mistake. I heard Emilie cock the shotgun behind me. I slowly turned around to face her. We were at point blank range; even with her horrible aim, there was no way she could have missed me.

"He may be your man, but he's my protection. I'm not a dummy, I know my daddy ain't comin' back. I need protection."

"Merle wouldn't protect you," I laughed. "He probably thinks you're a moron."

"That's an understatement, baby girl."

Behind Emilie, there was Merle. He reached in front of the ditsy bitch and pulled the shotgun out of her hands.

I let out a long sigh of relief and watched as he pulled Emilie to the door by her arm.

"What the hell are you doin'?!" She yelled. "You let me go!"

"Gladly."

He pushed her outside of the door and barricaded it from the inside. I heard her fists pound against the glass as she screamed for Merle to let her back in.

"You better start runnin'!" Merle exclaimed.

As Emilie threw her temper tantrum, Merle turned towards me.

"Weeeeellll! Ain't you a sight for sore eyes!"

I smiled and casually strode towards him.

"Well, Mr. Dixon, I could say the same about you."

Indeed, I could have. He looked filthy. The usual coat of dirt that evenly covered his skin was much darker now.

I placed my hands on his dirty shoulders so I could get a good look at him. He placed his hand on the back of my head. As we kissed, we could hear the sound of Emilie's screams resonate outside.


	38. Chapter 38-The Broken Hearted

My goodness I've been away from this site for waaaay too long.

The Spring semester has ended (straight A's..I know, when I'm an accomplished psychiatrist I'll send you all my card. Most of you will need help when Daryl inevitably kicks the bucket. Some of you, like me, haven't gotten over the death of Merle and need to talk about it...I know my dears...it burns).

Anyway, the day after the semester ended, I broke my hand...my right hand (my boyfriend likes to call me Merle e.e). Any who, since it has been awhile since I've updated Cherish and I'm on a lot of painkillers, I thought it would be a good time to continue the misadventures in love of Chris and Merle.

As usual, keep up those reviews! I love reading what you guys have to say =)

* * *

The pattern of the lawn chair had eventually imprinted itself on the back of my legs while I sat on the roof and watched Emilie fight to survive outside of the store. The shotgun that nearly ended my life lay across my lap as I silently observed the wannabe celebrity run for her dear life. Curiously, she never left the store front as the beginnings of a hoard surrounded her. I cocked my head to the side as I watched and began to wonder if I should have let her back into the store.

Behind me I heard the loud _tsssk _of a soda can opening behind me.

"You havin' a change of heart?"

"I don't know yet," I said. "She's kind of a stuck up bitch."

I turned back to look towards Merle as he chugged down his cola in the hot sun.

"You think we should let her back in?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Don't make much sense to me. We let her back in, she's gonna wind up gettin' herself killed anyway."

I nodded and turned back towards the scene Emilie made below us. Merle came forward and wrapped his good arm along with the soda around my shoulders.

"Miss me?"

I laughed, "Only company I had was the undead and the horse carcass."

He laughed and tipped the can so I could have a drink. The sweetness of the contents made my face scrunch.

"It's tart at first, but you start to get used to it after a while," he said.

"Isn't there any bottled water?" I asked as I wiped the carbonated liquid from my lips.

He cocked his head to the side as if I was speaking a different language.

"Sure. C'mon downstairs."

As I stood up from the lawn chair to follow Merle, I heard Emilie's frantic screams from the front of the store. I walked over to the ledge and saw the walkers tear her apart as her arm stretched up towards me as if I could have pulled her out to save her life. I furrowed my brow and continued to watch the scene unfold. I'm not sure what concerns me more: that I left her outside to die…or that I watched and didn't feel a thing.

Downstairs, there was a small back room with a refrigerator similar to the one in my old dorm room and a round table with a few chairs around it. As I took a seat, Merle bent down to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.

"That thing still works?" I asked.

"There's a generator."

I nodded and stared down at the table. Merle set the bottle of water down and snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Y'all right?"

"I think so," I said slowly.

He pulled one of the other chairs out and sat down in it.

"Don't feel bad about Mandy."

"Emilie," I corrected.

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.

"Who gives a rat's ass? I don't. Like I said before, she was as good as dead anyway. Only thing that matters now is you n' me and finding Daryl."

My eyes widened as soon as Merle finished saying his brother's name. I'd almost forgotten about him.

"He was there, Merle. He was at the explosion."

He dropped his elbows from the table and stood.

"You saw him? You saw Daryl?!"

I had to look away from his excited gaze as I stared down at my lap and shook my head.

"I didn't see him, but I know he was there."

He sat back down and put his head in his hand. After a few awkward moments of silence, he began to laugh.

"If you didn't see him, how do you know he was there?"

"I saw one of his bolts. I don't think they were inside the CDC when it exploded; the cars would have still been there."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as if he was trying to take mental note of what I'd just said.

"Okay," he started. "Here's what we do, we're gonna go back to the CDC and see if we can't find anything that could tell us where they went."

"Merle, everything is gone. Did you see that place? It's a disaster area. That, and I had to hide from that truck we saw a few days ago…," my voice trailed off as I thought of Jim.

My eyes fixated on the ceiling and stared off into space as I thought of the man who shot Jim. That man…he was so familiar. I'd seen him before…but where?!

"Chis?"

I looked back up at Merle.

"On my way here…I found Jim. He was sitting against a tree….waiting to die. He'd been bit. I sat and talked to him for a while. That truck we saw…it stopped in front of him. A man got out…a man I swear up and down I know…and shot Jim."

"A man you know? Who was he?"

"That's just it. I can't remember."

"Then how do you know you know him?" Merle laughed.

"He looked _so _familiar."

"Maybe he just had one of those faces."

Maybe Merle was right.

"Alright, mama. We gotta get on up outta here."

I took a drink from the bottle of water and capped it back up. Merle started to pack a backpack full of supplies for our run. While I watched him, I noticed that he was filling it with everything he could find.

"We're not coming back here?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"No, we need to keep movin'. We'll find somethin' to drive and figure out where to go from there."

As he packed I checked the ammunition situation of the shotgun.

"Is there anymore shells around here?" I asked.

Merle nodded towards the glass display case that the register sat upon.

"Behind the counter, top shelf."

I set the shotgun down next to him and searched the top shelf. After I'd found what I was looking for, I brought them back to Merle so he could pack the three boxes. Before putting them into the bag, he filled the shotgun's capacity. I picked up my bow and pistol from a nearby display table.

"Okay," I sighed. "I'm ready when you are."

Merle placed the backpack on my shoulders and went to the door to pull the small bell above the door out of the wall. He carefully set it aside. Afterwards, he crouched down next to the door and cracked it open. I followed by bending down next to him and waited for his signal to move. He lifted his remaining index finger to his lips and made the okay to leave the store. The geeks were still distracted by Emilie's half eaten remains frying on the hot pavement.

I must have paused too long to watch; Merle grasped my sleeve and pulled me along. I was obtaining an odd fascination with death.

Further on down the road, as the amount of dead became fewer and fewer, we were able to stand and come to a slow jog. We began to check cars for unlocked doors while remaining wary of the alarms they could produce. Eventually, Merle had located a small old car to hot wire. I stood and watched his back as he worked to start the automobile.

In the distance, I could hear screeching tires. I dropped the backpack and took a few steps toward the sound. Gun fire soon followed.

Behind me, I heard the car start and Merle getting up from the floor. When he began to speak, I placed my hand over his mouth.

"_Shhhhh!"_

He looked confused until he finally heard gunshots ring through the city.

My jaw hung open and began to quiver.

"Do you think that's them?" I whispered.

"It's hard to tell."

I looked at the tops of the surrounding trees as if they'd magically appear from them before turning back towards Merle.

"Do we go back to the CDC, or do we go towards the sound?"

He thought for a moment.

"The geeks are probably moving towards that area right now. It's a hot zone. We gotta wait. For now, we're going back to the CDC."

The possibility that Daryl and the others were only blocks away from us made me sick to my stomach; but I knew that he was right.

He placed his hand on my shoulder and pulled me towards him. When our foreheads touched, he spoke softly to me.

"I don't like it either. But we're getting to Daryl. _Alive._"

I stared down at his dirty white t-shirt before nodding and allowing him to lead me into the car. We drove off in the direction of the CDC.

* * *

The debris left over from the explosion was still smoldering upon our arrival. We sat and silently watched the smoke rise to the sky as the sun's rays softly toasted our skin through the windshield. Merle pulled the tiny car in closer towards the wreckage to get a better look. There, on the ground was the bolt I'd mentioned that had no doubt been released and left by his younger sibling.

Merle slowly reached towards the driver's door handle and quietly got out of the car. I remained inside and observed him from a distance. He crouched down next to the bolt and slowly picked it up. As he twirled it in his fingers, I also got out of the car. Not to join him by his side, but to look through the rest of the building's burnt remains.

While I tipped over hot cement blocks and doors, he was fixated on the only clue to his brother's existence. Now and then, I would peek over my shoulder to make sure he was only staring at it. Merle was, after all, a very unpredictable man.


End file.
